The Lily and The Stag
by cluelessclown
Summary: Lily Evans always thought she hated James Potter. He was obnoxious, cheeky and self-centered, but was there more about James than what met the eye? As the Marauders, Lily and their friends get started with their last year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry, thing seem to turn upside-down: love stories, adventures and an imminent war ahead of them.
1. The Unexpected Head Boy

**Chapter One: First and Last**

...

The Hogwarts Express wheeled loudly. In a matter of seconds, they would all be off to a new, fascinating year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. Some for their first year, like nerve-racking Simon McKinnon, who simply couldn't wait for his adventures at Hogwarts to begin, and some in their very last year at school, such as Lily Evans.

The seventeen-year-old sat between her two best friends, Marlene McKinnon – who had only just finished calming her little brother down into a seat – and Mary McDonald, with three other young witches sitting in front of them: Sophie Hoxley, Hestia Jones and Dorcas Meadowes. The five of them were chatting casually about summer adventures, boys and their NEWT year.

"My brother's been such a nag over these last months," said Marlene, sounding rather exasperated. "He sometimes drove me mad, to be honest. He was always hopping up and down, and when the Hogwarts letters arrived he was so ecstatic he couldn't even speak. He was a bit dumbstruck when he went to Ollivander's, to say the truth."

"I went to the United States with my parents," Sophie told her friends excitedly. "You know, we did it the Muggle way, but it was still so exciting! We got to see John Lennon in New York City, it was so thrilling."

"John – who?" asked Dorcas, taken aback by her friend's last words.

"Oh, never mind," said Lily with a soft laugh, seeing Marlene was equally surprised. "He's a Muggle songwriter. Really good, by the way."

The two Pure-bloods nodded in understanding, and their conversation continued until they heard a soft knock on their compartment door. A few seconds later, Tom Jones, Hestia's older brother, slid in.

"Hey, Tom!" Sophie greeted her best friend with a hug. "How has summer been?"

"Well, wasn't bad," the boy answered. Hestia did a loud sigh and he felt slightly flushed. "Um – I was just thinking you'd like to come and join me for a while? We haven't talked for so long –"

"Yeah, that'll be cool," said Sophie, nodding eagerly. She then turned to her friends. "Girls, I'll see you later."

The other five girls, including Hestia, giggled uncontrollably, to which both Sophie and Tom blushed. Both of them walked away, and the last thing Lily could see from her seat was Sophie's hand slipping into Tom's.

"They really do fancy each other, don't they?" she asked loudly when she knew they were both out of earshot.

"Ugh, positive," groaned Hestia. "Tom has been talking about her for the whole summer."

The other four girls shared funny glances, and Hestia just did a loud sigh again.

"Well, I'd better go find Emmeline," she said. "She must be looking for me. See you, girls!"

"See you!" the other four girls chorused after her.

Hestia, following her brother's suit, walked out of the compartment and headed towards her best friend, Emmeline Vance. They were both starting their sixth year and experience told Lily those two wouldn't have quite as much time than last year for playing around.

"So, who do you reckon will be the new Gryffindor Quidditch captain?" asked Dorcas.

"Wasn't Wood captain last year?" asked Lily curiously.

"Yeah, but he's left school already," said Marlene. "I hope whoever's been appointed captain keeps the older players, though."

"Maybe it'll be you, Marlene!" exclaimed Dorcas excitedly. "You've been in the team since our second year, and you're a brilliant Seeker."

Marlene blushed bright red, "I would have known by now if I had been appointed team captain. Besides, James has been in the team for the same time than me."

Lily frowned at the mention of James Potter. She had felt a deep disgust towards the messy-haired boy ever since their first day at Hogwarts, and had always thought the feeling was mutual, until their sixth year. Curiously enough, James Potter had spent the last year asking her out an average of three times a day, trying hard to drive Lily mad. She had been lucky enough not to have encountered the Potter boy yet, assuming he and his best friend, Sirius Black, would have been strutting through the train looking for her.

"Speaking of appointing," said Mary, nudging Lily playfully. "See our new Head Girl!"

"Hear, hear!" laughed Dorcas.

Lily beamed proudly. She had been appointed Head Girl over the last summer, but had no idea who would her fellow Head Boy be. She had always hoped it would be Remus, who was the nicest boy in the castle from Lily's point of view – although he meddled too much with James Potter and Sirius Black for Lily's like. Remus had been her fellow Gryffindor Prefect over the past two years, and both of them had had a great deal of fun over their shifts together and they had become very close friends.

"Oh!" Lily exclaimed then. "I forgot, I was ought to go to the prefect carriage and give the new Prefects instructions for the upcoming term."

"Oooh, and there she'll meet her fellow Head Boy," giggled Mary. "I presume that Ravenclaw boy, Daniel Goldstein? He's quite good-looking, you know."

"He's a nice boy, but I don't think he'd make a good Head Boy," said Dorcas. "I bet it's Remus who's gotten picked."

"Yeah, I hope so," said Lily. "He'd better be someone nice, because I'll have to share dorms with him for the whole year."

"Let's hope it's not the Slytherin prefect, Tobias Avery," giggled Marlene. "I bet he'd rather peel his skin off than share a dorm with you."

Lily rolled her eyes, although she knew this was perfectly true. Some Slytherins in her year loathed her and every other Muggle-born in the school – such as her friends Mary and Sophie – and she felt a slight pinch in her chest when she realized a boy she'd called her friend for years was in that group, none other than Severus Snape. Severus had been one of her best friends in their first years at Hogwarts, but something that happened in their fifth year tore them apart –

"Oh, _thank you_ Marlene." She answered to her friend, sarcasm dripping from her words.

Marlene bowed, giggling happily, but Lily just rolled her eyes once more and stood up.

"I expect to be back in half an hour or so," she announced before closing the compartment door. "See you then!"

"See you!" the other three said, waving her goodbye.

And so Lily shut the door closed and headed towards the Prefects carriage.

...

When Lily arrived to the Prefects carriage, she saw the younger students and some of the sulky-looking seventh year Prefects sitting there. She knew the Ravenclaw seventh year prefect, Suzanne Edgecombe, had really hoped she'd become Head Girl, and the Ravenclaw grunted slightly when she saw Lily walking down to them. Sitting by a window and looking out to the English countriside with a thoughtful expression was Remus, who greeted Lily with a smile.

"Hey, Lily!" he exclaimed. "How was summer?"

"Not bad," Lily admitted. "You know, I had my sister calling me a freak every day. She often brought home her fiancé, who took about two thirds of our living room's sofa, and he thought I was in a reformatory school or something, for what Tuney had told him...but at least weather was fine."

Remus clicked his tongue and gave her a smile, "I guess it's good to be back after all."

Lily nodded, then looked curiously at him.

"What?" asked Remus.

"Well?" she asked in return. "Aren't you going to tell me?"

"Tell you what?" repeated Remus, looking rather puzzled.

"Have you been made Head Boy or what?" said Lily finally, with a soft giggle.

Remus let out a soft laugh that Lily didn't like very much. In just a couple of seconds, she knew at once not only that Remus had not been appointed Head Boy, but that someone else she didn't like very much had been instead. She bit the inside of her left cheek in worry.

"Is it Avery?" she asked. Remus shook his head at once, which was a great relief to Lily. "Macmillan? He's rather pompous, but not _that_ bad guy..." again, Remus shook his head with a funny expression in his face. "Goldstein, then? I've always been rather fond of him to say the truth, it wouldn't be bad to have him as Head Boy." For the third time, Remus shook his head.

Lily looked at him, rather puzzled. He, Lucas Macmillan, Daniel Goldstein and Tobias Avery made the four male seventh year prefects...who else could it be?

When the door slammed open in response, Lily couldn't believe her eyes.

"Well, I'm glad to see everyone's here!" said James Potter with a laugh.

Lily looked at Remus, her eyes wide in shock. Remus nodded at once, giving her a bright smile. Lily frowned, reluctant to believe all that nonsense, and stood up to face James Potter.

"You're not supposed to be here," she said shortly. "Prefects and Head Boy and Girl only."

James chuckled in front of her. "No big deal, Evans." And with that, he showed her a big, shiny badge pinned onto his Gryffindor robes, with a big 'H'.

Lily felt like fainting. Knowing that she would have to share dorms, shifts and duties with James Potter for a year was almost as bad as having Tobias Avery as a fellow Head Boy. But then again, James Potter might have annoyed the guts out of her, but at least he didn't call her a 'filthy little Mudblood scumbag' whenever she was around. In fact, James Potter did stand up to people who called her that constantly...not that Lily would admit she felt grateful for that anyway.

"You – you can't be Head Boy!" Lily stuttered. "You – you haven't even been a Prefect!"

"Yeah," piped in Daniel Goldstein. "How come that?"

"No one said you have to be a Prefect to become a Head Boy," laughed James. "You should know that, Evans, given you spend so much time reading."

Lily frowned at him. "I'm going to talk to McGonagall right now. If this is some sort of tasteless joke – "

"I can assure you, it's not," said James. "I was appointed last summer, and Sirius is a trustworthy witness."

"Oh, your dear friend Sirius Black," sighed Lily, rolling her eyes. "_How reliable_."

Only then did she notice two of the fifth year Prefects were giggling at her. She felt slightly blushed, for she knew most of the younger students assumed she and James were dating.

"Well, we'd better give these little fellas some instructions on how this is done, right Evans?" asked James merrily, walking around and inspecting the younger prefects.

"Oh, yes," said Lily resentfully, glaring at James.

The first thing that shocked Lily about James was that he actually forced the eight fifth year Prefects into presenting themselves. She did not remember the Head Boy doing so two years ago.

"Oi, Potter!" she exclaimed as he inquired the Hufflepuff female prefect about her favourite food. "I'm not sure you're supposed to do that, you know!"

"Come on, Evans," he sighed. "Alana was halfway through telling me how her dear mother prepares a delicious roast chicken."

Lily let out a loud groan and sunk into a seat next to Remus, who was now trying hard not to laugh. She glared at him, and then looked down at her shiny Head Girl badge. How she wished she had just stayed as a Prefect...

"Please don't tell me I'll have to share dorms, shifts and duties with Potter," she whispered to her friend, massaging her temple with her index finger in a gesture of desperation.

"Oh, you _will_ have to share dorms, shifts and duties with Prongs," said Remus with a laugh. "And I'm sure he'll enjoy it very much."

Lily looked through the window. Out of all the students in their seventh year...why Potter? Why the boy she disliked so much? Lily thought the world must have really hated her to have her pair up with James Potter as Head Boy and Girl.

Oh, but she didn't even know half of it yet.

...

**A/N**: So that was the first chapter for 'The Lily and The Stag'...I hope it was not too crappy! Anyway, next chapter will come soon, until then please review! :-)

Elli xx


	2. The Welcoming Feast

**Chapter Two: The Welcoming Feast**

...

As Lily hopped off the carriage she had been sharing with Mary, Marlene and Dorcas, she realized that year wouldn't be easy. She frowned at the thought of trying to study for her NEWTs in the Heads dorm, with James being as loud as ever and asking her out even more times a day...

"So, James is Head Boy now?" Mary asked incredulously. "But – he's always been such a troublemaker – I mean, it's not like I hate him or anything, but he's rather – "

"Conceited?" offered Lily hastily as they walked to the castle. "Self-centered? Bullying? Nagging?"

The four girls laughed, and walked silently to the door. They were then surprised by Miriam Paulsen, a fifth-year girl who was also in the Quidditch team, playing Beater.

"Hey, girls!" she called from behind. "Marlene! Dorcas!"

The four of them turned to the redhaired girl, who now panted in front of them.

"I – I've just asked James if he had any idea of who the new captain was," she explained, her eyes wide in shock. "Guess what the bloke told me!"

Marlene and Dorcas shared rather puzzled looks.

"Let's see, there's McLaggen in the team too," said Marlene. "But he's only been in for two years, I don't think he'll be captain...do you?" Dorcas shook her head. "Wood was Chaser, and he's gone...and so is Everett, he was Keeper. So I'm guessing – " Marlene stopped dead in the middle of the sentence and looked at Miriam, her mouth wide open. "No!"

"Yes!" Miriam cheered. "Potter's our new captain!"

The four girls took different reactions. Marlene eyed Dorcas with an 'I-told-you-why-didn't-you-listen-to-me' look, whilst Dorcas just commented he was a great Chaser and he'd definitely make a good captain, and at least his pep talks wouldn't take half as much as Wood's did. Mary just whistled loudly, as if expecting Lily to explode, which was more or less what happened.

Lily felt something burning inside her. How come Potter had gotten the leadership of the Quidditch team? Yeah, he was an amazing player – he had a way with words, too – but he was the last person Lily would have expected!

"Let's get inside," she mumbled. "I don't want to jump into those Marauders here."

Marlene and Dorcas shared concerned looks, while Miriam returned to her own group of friends and Mary linked arms with Lily, a motherly look in her face.

"Don't you worry, Lily Flower," said Mary happily. "This will do nothing but feed Potter's ego. Besides, he's not _that_ conceited...I mean, yes, he's rather self-centered and his pranks can sometimes be classified as hurting or downright dumb, but he's top student in our year, and he's always been quite popular amongst teachers...oh, please, don't tell me you didn't see this coming, Lils."

But Lily only did a disgusted grunt. Not only would she have to bear with sharing her Heads dorm with James Potter, but she would also have to listen to his nonstop chatter about Quidditch and other issues Lily couldn't care less about. She felt scandalized at the thought of having the four Maraunders strutting up and down their private chambers, testing their Dr Filibusters and every single thing they could get their hands on at Zonko's...the sole thought of it made her want to resign from her job as Head Girl.

The four friends entered the Great Hall, which was already crammed with students. Hagrid was still absent from the teachers' table, so Lily assumed the first-years weren't in the castle yet. She slipped into a seat between Dorcas and Sophie, who was chatting happily with Tom, to her other side.

"You can't take your eyes off him, can you?" Lily commented happily to her friend when Tom turned to greet one of his Ravenclaw friends.

Sophie blushed bright red, but said nothing. Lily chuckled to herself and fixed a look down the Gryffindor table. She saw younger students sitting there, bemused, but she saw the Marauders nowhere. The first one to appear was Remus, who slipped between her and Dorcas.

"Hey, Remus!" Lily greeted him happily. "Had a good journey? I haven't seen you since I left the Prefects carriage."

"Yep, Prongs and I went back to find Padfoot and Wormtail and we all sat together in a compartment," said Remus. "You?"

"Same, went to fetch my friends and sat with them for the rest of the journey," she answered with a smile. "Oh, I can't wait to get back to our shifts! We had so much fun last year, catching snogging couples in the broom closets. I wonder if they'll allow – "

"Listen, Lily," Remus said calmly. "You're not patrolling the school with me this year – Head Boy and Girl are supposed to do that together."

Lily's eyes widened once more.

"But – you mean – " she stuttered. "I'll have to patrol the school – "

"With your dear friend James Potter?" offered a voice in front of them.

She frowned, not needing to turn around to find whoever was speaking. She looked up and found Sirius Black's dark eyes and jet-black hair, identical to James's but considerably tidier. The two of them could have been mistaken as brothers – which wouldn't have been a bad guess, really. They were always James and Sirius, Potter and Black, Prongs and Padfoot. Brothers in everything but blood. Sirius had even lived at the Potters' for the last two years, when he ran away from his parents' house at Grimmauld Place.

Sirius gave her a loud smirk and sat down in front of Remus, closely followed by James.

"Well, Potter, Black," Lily sighed. "Don't you have any Slytherin to bully? Or is there a new Marauder rule, you're not supposed to hex people after eight o'clock?"

"Oh, Lily, Lily," sighed James loudly. "I'm Head Boy now, remember? I'm ought to be a good boy."

"Which doesn't mean we'll stop pranking around, _right_?" asked Sirius seriously (**A/N**: no pun intended there.), frowning at his best friend.

"Of_ course_, Padfoot," said James. "How could you ever doubt that?"

Sirius let out a soft laugh and Lily rolled her eyes at both friends, who seemed to ignore her. She glanced at Remus, and at once started a conversation with him on NEWT exams and how difficult they'd be.

James glanced to Lily and when he found her deep in conversation with Remus, let out a loud sigh. Sirius, to his side, rolled his eyes and smirked.

"Come on, Prongs, she's never going to take you seriously," he told his best friend. "You've been stalking her for a year and she's always said no. She must think you're trying to make fun of her or something."

"But I'm not!" James exclaimed indignantly, then lowered his voice to a whisper. "You know how I feel about Lily, and I want her to notice this year, too. It's just – I don't know how – " James went into a senseless mumble for a few seconds, until he spoke up again. "What can I do to make her see I really like her, Padfoot?"

Sirius shrugged, "I dunno. I guess you'll have to act more 'mature' and all that rubbish for a start, which isn't much like you." Sirius let out a smirk, to which James frowned. "No, but seriously, I think you'd have to make her see you've grown up...we could give up on pranking on other people, even if that blows up the idea of a brilliant prank I wanted to pull on that little Slytherin misfit, Mulciber...anyway. Oh, and by the way, perhaps you should stop asking her out twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. I think she's starting to feel annoyed."

"OK," sighed James. "So let's see...mildly behave myself, no asking her out, no pranks – "

"Hey!" exclaimed Sirius indignantly. "Who said no pranks! We can still play around with teachers, Dungbombs and Dr Filibuster's, remember?"

James gave his best friend a mischievous smile.

"You know, it's such a shame Filch took our Map last year," he commented bitterly. "It'd be wicked to have it."

"Yep," agreed Sirius. "But still, I think we're going to have quite a good time. We know the passageways out of the castle by heart, anyway."

James nodded just in time to see a line of frightened-looking first years entering the Great Hall, led by Professor McGonagall, who wore her usual severe expression and emerald green robes. James could hardly believe it had been six years already from the time when he was one of those frightened-looking children, his eyes darting around through the Great Hall and finding the older students extremely..._huge_. Even back then, he had been by his best friend's side, and they had both faced it together...he remembered how he had laughed at Snivellus Snape for his greasy hair, and how Lily had stood up for him over their first five years at Hogwarts...

James's fists involuntarily clenched as he thought of Snape calling Lily a Mudblood on their fifth year. James had tried by all means to sort it all out, although Lily's hatred against him had seemed to become even deeper. If he had disliked Snape before that, he now loathed him.

Speaking of the devil, he saw Snape sitting in the Slytherin table, surrounded by his Junior Death Eater friends.

_Morons_, he thought.

"Look, there's the greasy-haired git," commented Sirius under his breath. "I'd hoped he had been murdered or something over the holidays."

"I know," James muttered in answer. "I'll bet he's spent the whole summer with Voldemort..."

James was interrupted by the Sorting Hat's song, which started as loudly as ever. Everyone in the Great Hall listened eagerly, even the scared first-years, who seemed curious about the fact that a hat was singing a song to them, especially the Muggle-born ones. After the song was over, McGonagall started calling names to sit down on the stool and place the Sorting Hat over their heads.

"Anderson, Mathilda!" she called.

A little, curly-haired blond girl walked up to the stool, looking deeply scared, and the teacher let the hat sit on top of Mathilda's hair. After a couple of seconds, it hollered, "Hufflepuff!"

The Hufflepuff house burst into applause, and little Mathilda Anderson walked happily to the table with a wide grin spread in her face.

"Avery, Romulus!"

A black-haired, pale boy walked to the stool. The Hat had barely touched his hair before it bellowed, "Slytherin!" and the house at the far right of the Great Hall started clapping and whooping loudly for their new member.

"Avery?" James asked loudly. "Like the Junior Death Eater in our year?"

"Yeah," answered Sirius. "D'you reckon they're brothers?"

"Sure," said Remus across the table.

Next, 'Button, Alyssa' was made a Hufflepuff, and then came 'Cameron, Samuel', who became the first Gryffindor in the first year. Sam trotted to the Gryffindor table happily, where he took a seat next to a group of second years.

After Sam came a group of students who were sorted into various houses, until McGonagall called out, "McKinnon, Simon!"

Marlene's little brother, who was a small boy with auburn hair and a slightly tanned skin, trotted up to the stool with a nervous smile. Marlene gave him an encouraging thumbs-up from the Gryffindor table, although she was not sure he had seen it at all until a few seconds later, the Hat bellowed, "Gryffindor!"

The Gryffindor table – which was usually the loudest at receiving their new members – broke into a fit of roars and applause as Simon timidly made his way to a seat next to Sam Cameron and the other Gryffindor first year, the twins Connor and Helena Finnigan and Eleanor Martin. He gave Marlene a wide grin as his older sister sighed, relieved.

"He's been mourning about how he feared becoming a Slytherin for ages," she commented as 'Merriwether, Lucy' was sorted into Ravenclaw. "I'm glad he's a Gryffindor."

"Yep, new member for the Gryffindor family," said James cheerfully. "We'll just have to make sure he's just as good as you in Quidditch, Marlene – they'll need a good replacement Seeker next year to live up to your fantastic catch in the Quidditch final last year."

"Yeah, superb job there, McKinnon," said Sirius, grinning.

Marlene's cheeks blushed scarlet, not because of James's praise, but Sirius's. Lily sighed. Even though Marlene wouldn't admit it, she was head over heels for Sirius ever since last year.

Just as 'Zabini, Rebecca' was sorted into Slytherin, Dumbledore stood up and gave them all a wide smile.

"Welcome back for another year, to those who have witnessed our Sorting Ceremony from the House tables," he said. "And welcome for your first time, but certainly not last, to those who have just felt our friend the Sorting Hat upon their heads. It's a pleasure to see you all here...but I'd thought it would be right to make an exception and give this little speech before the banquet starts.

"As all of you must be aware, a Dark wizards is gaining forces. Which is to say, the Wizarding world is currently pure mayhem. I have advice for you here: You will be safe inside the castle, but do beware of this powerful wizard and his followers outside it. It is our duty to stay together at most difficult times, which is the only way of showing the Dark how powerful we are. Cooperation between Houses and all kinds of wizards is essential, because it will prepare you for what's out there.

"But enough for now, I'm sure the _Prophet_ will torment you enough about this within the next few weeks. I am most glad to say we have found our new Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher – please welcome Professor Niklas Drajman!"

A tall, thin man stood up from his seat in the teachers table, with half-hearted clapping coming from the various tables. He had bright blond hair and big, blue eyes, which seemed to dart around everywhere in the Great Hall. He most certainly did not look British.

"He must come from a Slav country," said Mary. When the others eyed her, puzzled, she added, "You know, Northeastern Europe. Poland, Latvia, Lithuania..."

"Oh, right!" exclaimed James. "I should have known. I wonder if he's related to Alaric Drajman, the Poland Seeker?"

Lily rolled her eyes, wondering why did James have to relate every single thing he heard to Quidditch.

"Professor Drajman," continued Dumbledore, after the scarce applause had died out. "Has accepted the position and, as a well-known Auror in the Ministry of Magic, will try to do his best in training you for battle, which seems thoroughly necessary these days. Anyway, without any further ado...I think we shall let the feast begin."

Professor Dumbledore took his seat in the teachers table just as food started spurting out of the empty plates, filling the tables with delicious-looking food.

"Brilliant!" exclaimed Sirius. "Treacle tart!"

Everyone else, even Lily, laughed at his comment as they all filled their plates with food. It was then for the first time when Lily's eyes met James's and she didn't see that cocky look in his eyes, which did make a change.

"So, Evans," he said casually as he sliced a piece of his roast beef. "I suppose we'll have to share a dorm this year?"

"Yes, that's right," sighed Lily, still reluctant to admit she'd have to face a whole year with James nagging her all the time. "But that doesn't mean you'll get to nag me twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week by asking me out constantly."

James laughed. "Oh, no, I've given up on it."

Lily stopped halfway through getting a piece of salmon to her mouth.

"Really?" she asked doubtedly. "Well, that makes a change, Potter. Why so suddenly, anyway?"

James shrugged.

"I guess I've grown up over the summer," he said, shovelling some chips onto his plate. "I don't think that's the proper way of asking someone out."

Lily did a small scoff, but said nothing. She didn't really buy James Potter had _grown up_, but at least it was quite pleasant to know he would not be stalking her as he did last year.

"Very well then," she said between spoonfuls of mashed potatoes, with a sly smile. "I'll see you at our first patrolling on Thursday."

James gave her a wide smile.

"Oh, you _certainly_ will," he muttered as Lily turned back to her food, not listening to him any more.

...

**A/N**: I know this was a bit of a rubbish chapter, but oh well. Anyway, this story has only just begun, so it's just a bit of an intro before we get into the real plot. As always, chapter three will come soon and I expect to get some reviews until then! :-)

Elli xx


	3. The Bullying Toerag

**Chapter Three: The Bullying Toerag**

...

The first day of school was observed by some, such as Lily Evans, as an exciting new adventure. By others, such as James Potter, it was the start of what would be a depressing, boring series of never-ending lessons. They both had different point of views about studying and their classes, but one thing was sure: by next June, they would have faced their NEWT examinations and tried to come out of them alive.

All in all, neither of their mornings started too well.

Lily had just walked out of their private bathroom with a towel wrapped around herself. She had expected James to have already left for breakfast, but instead found herself face-to-face with a pair of round-rimmed glasses and a bunch of messy black hair.

"Potter, get out of my way!" she shrieked. "I'm – I've no _clothes_ on!"

"Oh, really?" asked James bemusedly. He didn't really know what to say at the vision of Lily with only a towel embroidered with the Gryffindor colours. Oh, being Head Boy was definitely worth the extra work.

"As dim as you are, can't you tell people tend to wear no clothes after having a shower?" Lily snapped angrily.

James smirked. He had to admit the girl had good comebacks every now and then. He saw her raising an eyebrow, one of those beautiful, thin and reddish eyebrows...oh, James, _focus_!

"Well – um – " he mumbled. "I – I thought I'd wait for you...you know, to go get breakfast and all."

Lily gave him a sceptical look.

"What makes you think I'd like to walk downstairs with you, Potter?" she asked, raising her eyebrows once again. For once, she felt surprised he hadn't used his usual cheeky tone.

James started messing up with his hair, as every other time he'd felt nervous before. But this only made Lily groan.

"Don't do that," she said. "For the billionth time...you – don't – look – cool – while – doing – _that_."

"I don't intend to look cool!" James protested. "I – I've made an habit out of it. I do it every time I'm nervous."

"Oh, how cute," deadpanned Lily. "Well, back off, Potter. I have to go change myself, y'know."

"Uh, sure," he said, backing off. "I'll wait here, Evans."

Lily let out an exasperated sigh, "_Fine_. Wait here."

James grinned at her until he made sure she had disappeared into her private bedroom. Then he smiled dreamily, flopping onto one of the couches in their private chambers' living room. He had definitely improved, at least Lily would be coming down to breakfast with him. Perhaps he could start off by becoming friends with her, and then perhaps move onto something else...but that something else would definitely have to wait. He firstly wanted to show Lily he had changed for good. Luckily enough, he had patrolling hours and walks from and to the Heads Dorm to show her, let alone the time he could spend with her in their own private chambers...oh, posibilities were endless for the young and head over heels James Potter.

A while later, he saw Lily peering from her doorway, perhaps wondering if he had bothered to wait for her. He flashed his best smile and stood up, although he was rather taken aback when he saw her frowning.

"I thought you had left," she explained as she pinned her Head Girl badge onto her cloak. "You know, you're always so loud and everything."

"Oh, well," answered James as they walked out of the Heads Dorm. "You know...I tend to control myself at times."

Lily did something between a chuckle and a snort, which James took as an a good signal. They both walked downstairs in silence, until James finally spoke up.

"Well – how's summer been?"

He automatically wanted to slap himself for such a lame question. Lily, however, seemed to find it amusing, and for once bothered to answer.

"Not unlike the previous ones," she sighed. "I got to spend two months with my sister calling me a freak...but this year I also got to have her bothersome fiancé bugging me, too."

"Why'd they call you a freak?" James asked, puzzled. He knew Lily was Muggle-born, but many of the Hogwarts students were too and they had never been called freaks by their siblings...or at least that's what James thought until then.

Lily sighed, "Tuney hates me ever since we were children. I know she would have liked to be a witch too, but it was me who got gifted and all... I've already gotten used to it, but it used to really hurt me when we were little girls. I often spent entire afternoons crying after she'd called me a freak for making a swing rock back and forth by itself."

James raised his eyebrows.

"Bit jealous, isn't she?" he asked, rather perplexed.

"Yep, I guess she is," Lily sighed. "I've never been able to do anything about it. I'd like to make up with her though, she used to be my best friend..."

"But Lily, you've plenty of friends!" James exclaimed. "Marlene is like your sister now, after all these years together...and so are Mary, Sophie and Dorcas. Tom and Moony are good friend of yours too, remember? And – and – well, I guess – "

"Yeah, I guess you'd be a bit of a friend too," said Lily for him, giving James a heart-warming smile. "Thanks for listening, James. I never thought you would think of anything else but yourself."

James snorted. "Oh, come on, I've grown out of that. I know better than to care just of myself, you know –"

"Impressive," said Lily, giving him a truthful smile. "But you're still the little bullying toerag to me, Potter. It'll take more than just babbling to show me you've changed.

And, said this, the two of them entered the Great Hall, James rather taken aback by Lily's comment.

...

Lessons that day weren't easy for most of them. First class was Charms, which all of the Gryffindors attended. Professor Flitwick spent almost half of the lesson talking about the importance of their NEWT examinations, telling them they would have to get at least an "E" for careers such as Aurors and Healers, to which James listened eagerly at first but then became awfully bored after the first twenty minutes.

Next period was Potions, which was only attended by James, Lily, Tom, Mary, Marlene and Sophie. The six of them walked down to the dungeons together, saying goodbye to their friends, who either had free period or some of their other subjects.

When they reached the cold classroom, James threw his schoolbag onto one of the back desks. Lily walked up to the front with Marlene and Mary, ready to take a seat next to them, when a voice called her.

"Mind taking a seat with me, Evans?" asked James from the back of the class.

Lily casted a glance towards her two best friends, who looked at her as if she had just lost her marbles and practically sat her next to James in the cold, damp back of the dungeon. The two girls, along with Tom and Sophie, took seats in the front of the class, glancing at Lily from time to time with funny expressions in their faces. Only two seats away from them, Lily noticed a greasy-haired boy who was thoroughly examining his new Potions book.

"Snape is in our class again," mumbled James. "How fortunate."

Lily cast him a reproachful look.

"What's he done to you?" she asked angrily. "You're just bullying – "

"I'm not angry at him for anything he's done to me," James cut her off at once, frowning. "I know it wasn't fair, everything I did to him over the last years. But I hate him for – for letting you down."

Lily raised her eyebrows sceptically, "What do you know about him letting me down?"

"Well, he called you a – a you-know-what," he started. "And he's been all dirty to you over the last year. Oh, how can you not hate those Junior Death Eater gits?"

"It's not like I like them," said Lily. "But that's no reason to go hexing them in the corridors."

"See what they did to Mary in our fifth year!" James exclaimed. "Snape was probably in it too!"

Lily frowned, "He might have been, but that's none of our bussiness. _Let go, James_. They're meddling with Dark magic, they'll regret it. Besides, going down to their level won't make you a hero. If anything, it'll show them all you want to do is prove yourself better than them."

James looked at her indignantly, but said nothing. He had felt like she had started to bear his company more or less well, and he was not going to risk losing the little trust he'd gained from her in the past couple of hours. In fact, he was pretty much convinced Lily would have popped his eyes out with a spoon and then removed every single hair from his body with a painful jinx if he had asked her to sit beside him last year, and she was now calmly – even happily – taking her books out of her schoolbag.

As Professor Slughorn entered the classroom, looking as nervous as ever, he gave the class a short welcome and told them about their NEWT exams, to which some, like Lily, listened carefully and took notes about everything Slughorn said, and others, like James, just yawned and rubbed their eyes, feeling tremendously sleepy.

"Well, now you've got all your information on Potions NEWT exam," he said, looking around his table after twenty minutes of his long speech. "Here I've got you some warming-up task for the upcoming year. You'll prepare the Drowning Draught," Slughorn's wand flickered towards the blackboard. "Instructions and ingredients in the blackboard. Oh, and please work in pairs."

James eyed Lily with a goofy smile, to which Lily answered with a loud sigh.

"We'll get my cauldron," James said.

"OK, we'll have my ingredients then," Lily accepted. Then, as she took the small bottles and boxes from her schoolbag, she turned to James, their faces only a few inches apart. "But I'm warning you, Potter...no – playing – around."

"Alright, alright," laughed James. "No playing around. I think I can do that for an hour."

Lily rolled her eyes, but the corners of her lips turned up in something like a small smile. James grinned, for he couldn't recall Lily smiling at him before.

_That's one thing I'll tell our children one day_, he thought dreamily, as he watched Lily smashing the yew roots into pieces. _Children, the first time your mother smiled at me was in a damp, ridiculous dungeon in front of the greasy-haired git who had been her best friend for five years..._

James chuckled at his own thoughts. To his surprise, Lily seemed to have heard his soft laugh, for she turned her head towards him and frowned with a diverted smile.

"What, Potter?" she asked. "We're ought to be working, you know."

"Oh, nothing," he quickly said, feeling patches in his cheeks turning red. "Yeah...let's get to work."

Lily turned to the smashed yew roots while James squeezed the Lebannon turnip to get the pulp. Seeing him focusing in his work for once was also a quite good change. She smiled happily as she placed the yew roots inside the pewter cauldron, and looked up to the blackboard to find the next step for their potion. Instead, while her eyes found her way to the blackboard, she found Tobias Avery and Snape muttering things under their breath, staring hastily at her. When they noticed she was looking back at them, her face glowering almost as much as her red hair, they both burst out in silent laughter and Avery mouthed her 'Mudblood', to which Snape snickered happily.

Lily felt anger rising inside her. How could Severus do that to her? She had been her best friend for years, and now he had let her down. She glared at him with an expression of pure loathing, and thought she had to do something to make him feel guilty – but who did Severus loath even more than Muggle-borns?

She simply had to turn her head a little to find her answer.

Lily tapped James's arm softly, and saw him looking back at her with a wide smile in a second.

"Yes, Evans?" he asked.

"Um – pass me over the toad leg, please," she asked, mustering her best smile.

"Oh, sure," answered James, handing her the ingredient carefully. "Anything else?"

"Thanks, James!" she said, rather loudly, again with her best smile. She glanced towards Snape and Avery, who were now looking at them curiously. In fact, half of the class had turned to look at them, but Lily didn't notice. "You're so nice!" And so, she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a kiss on the cheek.

James instantly felt how his cheeks started turning into a dark shade of red. He stared at Lily incredulously, but the girl had already turned back to her toad leg happily. He then looked at Mary and Marlene, who seemed to be giggling happily, and his cheeks flushed even deeper. Sophie and Tom both gave him thumbs-up, while a group of Ravenclaw girls giggled and eyed him curiously.

Then, his eyes laid on a startled Snape. He was staring at Lily incredulously, while Avery seemed to be muttering swears under his breath.

"Problem, Snape?" he asked, rising his eyebrows coolly.

Snape did a grunt and turned around to his potion, commenting something that made Avery laugh very loudly a couple of seconds later.

James then turned back to Lily, who was stirring the cauldron carefully, six times clockwise.

"Lily," he whispered. "What – what was all that about?"

"What?" Lily asked, absorbed in her potion-making. "Oh – yes. Well, I – I wanted to thank you."

"It was just a toad leg," said James doubtfully.

"Oh, it wasn't just because of the toad leg," said Lily, laughing. "I – I've just realized you've been helping me out of sticky situations with the Slytherins over the past two years…and I've never told you how grateful I feel about it."

James grinned with glee at Lily's words. This was definitely some improvement! They were back on speaking terms, she had sat next to him in a lesson for the first time ever...and she had even kissed him on the cheek!

Why wouldn't the butterflies in his stomach stop fluttering so madly?

Lily, by the other hand, felt a pang of guilt inside her chest. She had lied to James. She had not done it because she felt grateful, she'd kissed him because she felt _angry_. She wanted Snape to see she couldn't care less about him, and giving James a kiss was the only thing she thought he'd find so painfully hurting to realize she didn't want to be friends with him any more.

But then again, what she had said was partly true. James had changed for good over the summer, and Lily didn't even know how, or why, she was starting to _like_ him. As a friend, of course, but Lily Evans liking James Potter as a friend was definitely something impressive to say. As she watched him still working with the pulp of the Lebannon turnip, a goofy smile set permanently in his face, Lily smiled.

Had James _really_ changed as he had repeated to her over the last two days?

...

**A/N**: Well, that's it for the third chapter. I dunno if either James or Lily are rather OOC, but oh well. You know how this goes: chapter four will come soon! :-)

Elli xx


	4. Patrolling

**Chapter Four: Patrolling**

...

Lily was almost surprised when she found herself walking out of Greenhouse number five after her last lesson of the day, Herbology. Those two days had sped by, and she now found herself in a sunny, nice late summer afternoon. Dorcas and Marlene cheered after her, commenting excitedly about the Quidditch tryouts taking place that afternoon. Dorcas played Chaser, while Marlene was Seeker, so they were both quite excited about it.

"Are you coming to watch, Lils?" asked Dorcas as they made their way back to the castle. "I know Mary and Remus will come for sure, and perhaps even Peter too."

"James will be there, anyway," whispered Marlene, giggling softly.

Lily rolled her eyes at her best friend.

"Whatever makes you think I'd go watch the Quidditch tryouts just because Potter will be there?" she asked as they walked up the marble staircase.

"Oh, come on," laughed Dorcas. "Marlene has a point there. I can't believe it was only four days ago when you commented how much you disliked him. Now you two seem to have become friends, and you kissed him in Potions class –"

"On the cheek," Lily cut her. "And anyway, I'm not even friends with Potter. I'ts just – well, I guess I'll have to grow used to having him as fellow Head Boy, and he does seem to have grown up over the summer."

Dorcas leaned backwards and whispered to Marlene, "I expect them snogging in a broom closet during their patrol tonight."

Marlene giggled happily, to which Lily did something between a chuckle and a snort. When she reached the Heads Dorm, she said goodbye to her friends and stepped inside. Not surprisingly, she found James lounging in the sofa, his broomstick laying in the floor next to him.

"Potter!" called Lily.

James's head bolted up as he recognized Lily's voice, and grinned at her sight.

"Hey," he welcomed her, sitting up in the sofa. "I – um – kind of fell asleep." He let out a nervous chuckle as he let her sit next to him in the sofa.

"I saw," Lily chuckled, leaving her schoolbag in her favourite desk. Then, she walked up to the couch and dropped onto it. "Oh dear, I'm feeling exhausted."

"But you'll be coming to the Quidditch tryouts, won't you?" James asked quickly.

Lily's eyebrows rose questioningly. "Why should I go? I'm not in the team."

"But – " James started. "I – well, your friends are in the team, and so is Sirius – and Mary, Peter and Remus will definitely come and watch – "

"Or perhaps you just want me to come because you want me to check out your amazing Quidditch moves," retorted Lily with a slight frown.

James fell silent for a moment. To be honest, he didwant Lily to see he was a really skilled Quidditch player, but at the same time that wasn't the main reason for his question. He always felt a lot better whenever she was around, and when he knew she was watching him – either in a Quidditch match or anywhere else – he felt a lot more secure and ready to fulfill any challenge ahead of him. He stared at the crackling fire, his round-rimmed glasses shining as a thought struck him.

_Why did he feel so well whenever Lily was around?_

Well, it was an easy question with an equally easy answer, but James couldn't quite bring himself to admit it yet. Did he really _love_ Lily Evans?

"Hey," whispered Lily a while later. "I'm sorry. I didn't mean that...I'll come to the tryouts, I'm sure it'll be fun."

James eyed her with a small smile.

"Really?" he asked. "Do you really want to come?"

"Of course," answered Lily with a bright smile. "It'll be really fun to watch. Besides, you said Mary and Remus would be there, right?"

James plastered his best smile on his face, but at the same time felt terribly bitter inside. He somehow knew she was coming just because of her friends, not because of him, but all in all he did not care. The thought of having her there was just enough for him.

"Thanks, Lily!" he exclaimed as he slopped onto the couch.

He grinned, staring at the fire for a few seconds, until he noticed Lily was looking at him with a funny expression.

"What?" he asked.

"Well," Lily said. "You didn't call me Evans."

James felt his cheeks turning red.

"Well," he started, mimicking her tone. "It's your name, ain't it? It's a nice name, anyway. I think I'll call you Lily more often."

Lily beamed, "That's nice of you, Potter. James isn't bad either, but I think I'll still call you Potter. You know, it's almost a tradition now."

James gave a soft laugh, but didn't say anything. He didn't care if Lily called him James, Potter or Mr. Monkey. He was just glad to know she was going to talk to him, and that he was going to be able to listen to her soft, beautiful voice every day without having to make her angry first.

...

Quidditch tryouts didn't go too bad. The team only needed two players, Beater and Keeper. There were many candidates seeking both positions, and James was glad to say none of them was too bad. The rest of the team – he, Marlene, Dorcas, Miriam and Sirius – gathered round to talk about the candidates after all of them had done their performances, and ended up picking a third year, Nick Banner, as Keeper and a sixth year named Kevin Swamp as Beater. As the rest of the candidates left the pitch, looking sulky and crestfallen, the two new members were informed about the training schedule for Gryffindor and, said this, the seven Quidditch players went back to the change rooms.

Outside were waiting the small number of spectators who had bothered to come and watch the tryouts: Lily, Mary, Remus, Peter, Tom, Sophie, Hestia, a two of Nick Banner's friends and Emmeline, the latter happening to be Kevin Swamp's girlfriend. The sun had fallen and it was now dark, so everyone resolved it would be best to go back up to the castle. Emmeline and Kevin were the first ones to leave, soon followed by Hestia, Peter and Dorcas, who were commenting something about one of the other candidates. Remus and Mary soon left the group too, commenting they had to work on their Ancient Runes essays for the next day.

"Well, Potter," said Lily, walking up to James. "We've got our first shift around the castle right now."

"Oh, come on," he pouted. "I'm so tired. Can't we do it tomorrow?"

"Nope," said Lily, laughing. "Come on, let's go."

James sighed, but followed Lily up to the castle, leaving Sirius and Marlene playing around with a Quidditch snitch they had snuck out of the pitch. The two of them walked in silence, yet it was a comfortable one. Once they reached the doors of the Entrance Hall, Lily pinned her Head Girl badge to her cloak once again, James deciding to do the same.

"Well, Potter," she said casually as they started strolling down the hallways. "How's the week been?"

"Hm, not bad," he admitted. "I'm quite glad there's no History of Magic any more. I don't even know how I scraped an 'A' in our OWLs, I swear."

Lily laughed, "Well, I reckon it wasn't my best subject, either."

James snorted, "You got a high 'E'."

"Like I said, not my best subject," sighed Lily. "Anyway, Professor Binns was rather...soulless, may I say?"

James chuckled silently as they kept on walking. They were now in the second floor, and they hadn't heard a sound except for their own voices yet. The torches were dimly lit and moonlight poured through the huge crystal windows, it looked like an ideal place for a couple to start kissing. He would pull Lily close, caress her cheek slowly, kiss her tenderly and then whisper into her ear: 'I love you'...

He quickly shook his head. Daydreaming about kissing Lily wouldn't do him any good. He glanced at his companion, who seemed to be checking every door in the corridor rather absentmindedly. He knew she and Remus had gained themselves the reputation of 'snog-busters', for they always caught kissing couples in the middle of their snogging and sent them back to their common rooms. Yet again, James wondered if Lily would take points of Gryffindor if they both started kissing in the middle of the corridor...

James couldn't help but chuckle at the thought.

"What?" Lily asked, as she shut the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom door closed.

"Nothing," James answered quickly. Feeling suddenly nervous, he spun around and suggested, "Shall we go the other way? This corridor's always deserted, anyway?"

"How'd you know?" the girl inquired, casting a curious look towards James.

James shrugged, "Marauding around, I suppose."

Lily snorted, "I should have expected that."

They both kept on walking through the apparently deserted corridors, Lily half-hoping they'd find someone to take House points off from. James, however, felt a lot more distracted by staring at her beautiful, long red hair, and felt like he had more than he deserved every time the girl smiled.

After climbing the stairs to the fifth floor, James heard a soft _thud!_ coming from a broom closet close to them. He half hoped Lily hadn't heard the same, because he really didn't want to disturb the couple kissing inside. The Head Girl, however, did seem to have notice the clattering of brooms falling to the floor, because she quickly spun around and darted around the corridor until her eyes fixed on the small door of a broom closet.

"There you go," she whispered resolutely. "Our first preys of the year."

James let out a small sigh and followed her to the broom closet. She slammed the door open and, to their surprise, they found Suzanne Edgecombe, the seventh year Ravenclaw Prefect, and the Ravenclaw Quidditch team captain, Landon Davies, with their lips locked and their expressions frozen.

"So," said Lily with a small triumphant smile. "What a shame, Suzanne. Prefect and snogging outside your common room after lights-out...and you, Davies, I'd thought better of you."

"You wouldn't say that if you had a boyfriend," whimpered Suzanne. "You're so lame."

"Hey, shut up," said James, a bit too defensively.

Davies did something like a smirk, while Lily blushed deeply. Suzanne scoffed and looked at Davies.

"I told you," she muttered. "They've only come here because they want the broom closet to themselves, the prats. I bet Potter's just – "

"I think that'll be ten points from Ravenclaw each," James cut her stubbornly. "For being out after lights-out, plus another ten points from Edgecombe for being a bit too rude to the Head Girl."

Suzanne grunted, but said nothing. She just took Davies's hand and pulled him out of the closet, mumbling something about Heads that James didn't find very amusing.

"Oi!" he called after them. "Do I have to make it forty points less for Ravenclaw?"

But neither Suzanne nor Davies answered and, within a couple of seconds, they disappeared in the darkness of the school corridors.

"Those two won't dare bothering us again," said James happily. "You know, busting snogging couples _does_ seem quite fun."

Lily beamed. She had never expected to be getting along with James Potter that well, and yet there they were, chatting casually about their patrols and laughing over Suzanne's face when they took thirty points from Ravenclaw. She had also felt quite pleased when he had stood up for her, even if Suzanne's words weren't half as hurting as some of the Slytherins'.

"Hey, James," she called after him, a few minutes later. "Thanks for...you know, standing up for me in front of Suzanne. She loathes me since I was appointed Head Girl, you know."

James nodded quietly, but said nothing. They walked silently for a few minutes, until he realized something.

"Lily," he said. "You haven't called me Potter."

Lily's cheeks seemed to glow red in a blush.

"Well," she said, thinking about a very similar situation, only a couple of hours ago. "It's your name, ain't it? It's a nice name, James. I think I'll call you that a bit more often."

James grinned, but didn't say anything. In four days, Lily had passed from almost hating him to becoming one of his friends, and yet he didn't dare tell her how he felt about her. He didn't want to risk it...not yet, anyway. He had to make sure Lily's feelings towards him had completely changed before taking a step forward and speaking his mind about Lily Evans.

Still, he couldn't help but grin at the sight of her fiery red locks rocking back and forth, with moonlight pouring into the small corridors as the two of them walked through the castle.

...

**A/N**: So that's about it with chapter four! I hope you liked it, chapter five will come soon. :-)

Elli xx


	5. Professor Drajman

**Chapter Five: Professor Drajman**

...

As Thursday arrived, the ten seventh year Gryffindors found themselves eating breakfast before their first Defence Against the Dark Arts lesson, the only lesson the ten of them shared. Hestia and Emmeline had already told them Professor Drajman had a strong Polish accent, but was still a brilliant teacher and had told them they would be learning lots of practical defensive magic that year. James took this with excitement, since he had always been up for some training ever since the war started. The others took it well too: it seemed like they were going to have a competent teacher after all.

"I bet we'll learn hexes and jinxes and everything!" said Sophie excitedly as they walked to the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom.

"Oh, purr-_lease_," said Sirius. "We can handle those since our second year. Right, Prongs?"

"The good old times," sighed James in agreement.

As they entered the Defence classroom, the ten Gryffindors found out they would be sharing the lesson with the Ravenclaws, which seemed quite better than having to deal with the Slytherins once again. They all took seats, two by two: Remus with Mary, James with Sirius, Peter with Tom, Sophie with Dorcas and Marlene with Lily. All of them pulled their Defence books out, waiting for the rest of the class to arrive. As she dropped her parchment, quill and ink on her desk, a flying piece of parchment – which resembled one of the Ministry memos – dashed past her nose and landed swiftly on top of her book. She quickly unfolded it and giggled as she read the content.

_Edgecombe and Davies have sat behind me and won't stop glaring at me. Help!_

_-James._

She quickly scribbled an answer on the back of the piece of parchment and sent it flying towards James.

_Dunno, just take another thirty points off Ravenclaw if you catch them a bit too close over the lesson. The'll be _so_ glad about it!_

_-Lily._

As James read the response, he chuckled. He found Sirius looking at him suspiciously, and when James smirked at him, Sirius just rolled his eyes and mumbled something about going to snog with Lily already as he pulled out his books.

A few seats away from them, Lily smiled giddily at James's note. When Marlene noticed this, the girl chuckled.

"What's that silly smile for?" she asked.

"Oh – nothing," Lily answered quickly, trying to hide her smile from Marlene.

"It's the note James just sent to you, right?" Marlene asked. When Lily did a resigned sigh, Marlene beamed. "You fancy him, right?"

Lily pretended to take this as a much bigger shock than it actually was, "What?"

"You fancy James Potter," Marlene repeated as she calmly read through the table of contents of their new book.

"What on earth makes you think I _fancy_ him?" Lily asked.

Marlene looked at her as if she were completely clueless, "Um...let's see. You actually _talked_ to him on the Welcoming Feast. You walk down to breakfast with him every day. You sit with him in every single Potions lesson. You kissed his cheek on Tuesday. You always stare at him. You have stopped speaking ill about him and Sirius – "

"OK, OK," said Lily quickly. "James and I might not be enemies any more, but that doesn't mean I _fancy_ him. We're just friends, all right?"

"Yeah right," snorted Marlene. "And my family's house elf flies."

Lily groaned. Why did _everyone_ keep pairing her up with James Potter? Yes, he had definitely changed for good over the summer – anyone would be able to see that – but still, why did everyone keep on suggesting they should just get locked in a broom closet for a few minutes? Yes, James _had_ changed – she must admit he wasn't just good-looking, but _extremely _good-looking – and yet he was still himself, only a nicer, less conceited version of himself._  
_

Lily stopped questioning herself about James when Professor Drajman entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom. With a flick of his wand, the words Nasty Exhausting Wizarding Tests appeared on the blackboard. Under the four words, 'DADA' was written neatly as the professor reached the blackboard.

"Welcome to your last year at Hogwarts," he said with a strong Polish accent. "As you must already know, my name is Niklas Drajman, and I will be your DADA teacher this year. I have not been appointed teacher just to show you the theoretical basis of defensive magic, but because Professor Dumbledore wanted me to help all students – especially you, seventh years – to improve your dueling abilities, seeing the dark times laying head of us. It will therefore be my mission to make you aware of all the dangers outside while Dark wizards are still on the lure. I think we will start today's lesson by looking at our content table and making a small list of topics we will cover over the school year. Please take your textbook, quill, parchment and ink out."

While most of the class payed genuine attention to Professor Drajman as he told them about a number of curses and hexes that might come in handy while dueling, Lily's mind drifted away from class. She barely payed attention to Drajman's words, but wondered if what Marlene had said before their professor's entrance was true. Obviously, she was the only one who could answer that question – but did she have the answer yet?

Yes, Lily definitely liked James better than last year. But did she like him as a friend – or as something else?

...

The rest of the day drifted by for the Gryffindors. Last lesson of the day was Transfigurations with the Slytherins, in which they were supposed to transfigure their feet into a fish tail. By the end of the lesson, half of the class had to quiver their way back to the hospital wing, followed by an exasperated-looking Professor McGonagall.

"Avery, Snape, Potter, Lupin, Black, Evans, McKinnon...thanks for being the only two able to complete the task," she said. "Five points for each of you. Now, I'll have to get Miss Meadowes to the hospital wing, those scales shouldn't have appeared in her thigh – "

The professor followed the two last students out of the class as the only seven who were successful packed away.

"Do you think Dorcas will be all right?" asked Lily worriedly as she hung her schoolbag from her shoulder.

"Oh, sure," said Marlene. "The worst that may happen is having to call her Fishwoman for a few days, right?"

The two girls laughed as they made their way to the classroom door. In that very moment, Lily spun around and looked at James and Sirius.

"Hey, are you coming?" she called over at them.

For a second, Snape looked up, as if expecting Lily to be addressing him again after those two years without speaking to each other. He gritted his teeth when he saw James, Remus and Sirius had turned around and were looking at the two girls.

"We'll see you later at the Heads Dorm," called James back. "We've got to go get this cleared up a bit before leaving."

Lily nodded, and so the two girls set foot to the Heads Dorm. James, Sirius and Remus were left there, cleaning the scales off Sirius's table.

"When are you going to ask her out, Prongsies?" asked Sirius at once.

"Hm?" answered James vaguely, too distracted to hear his friend's question properly.

"I said, when are you going to ask Lily out?" Sirius repeated patiently. "You're quite slow, Prongs."

"Oh," answered James, bemused. "I dunno. I want to gain a little more confidence with her before."

"Like she'd say yes this time," said a voice behind them.

The three of them turned around and found Snape and Avery smirking at them. They had already packed away, and were ready to leave. James tried to restrain himself from answering to Snape, mainly because he had sworn he wouldn't bully him that year. Sirius, however, hadn't sworn anything, which made him step closer to Snape and Avery with a smirk on his face.

"At least he has a better chance than you, _Snivellus_," Sirius snickered, looking at Snape with disgust. "You greasy-haired git."

Snape sniggered. "Always relying on insults, Black. That shows how dim you are, doesn't it?"

"You're so pathetic," said James hoarsely.

Snape turned to him, now straight-faced.

"Don't you dare insult me, Potter," he threatened James, his index finger pointing at the three Gryffindors hastily. "Just because you can now snog with that filthy little Mudblood it doesn't mean you can go around insulting me –"

"Don't you dare call her a – a you-know-what!" he exclaimed. "You're just a pathetic git. You lost Lily because you called her the worst thing you can call a witch as decent and wonderful as her."

"You're just dim-witted blood traitor, Potter," cut in Avery. "You and your whole family are a disgrace to the name of wizardry. And you – you're repugnant, Black. You dare call yourself a member of the House of Black when you're just a blood traitor, dishonouring your family's name by hanging out with these – by being a Gryffindor yourself – "

Sirius leaped up and grabbed Avery's shirt collar, seeming ready to punch him in the face. He looked up at James, as if expecting his best friend to join in, but James shook his head vaguely.

"We'll sort this out the traditional way," said Avery threateningly. "If you two have the guts, Snape and I defy you to a duel."

For a second, Snape looked fearful at the thought of dueling against James and Sirius. But a second later, an oddly dark smile spread through his face, grimacing oddly at both James and Sirius.

"Tobias and I," he said longingly, staring menacingly into James's hazel eyes. "Versus you and Black. Tonight. Midnight. Third floor. What do you say, Potter? Do you still have your Gryffindor courage now?"

Anger filled James's veins. Not only had they dared insult Lily, but they also questioned Sirius and his own courage...his teeth gritted as he nodded in response.

"See you there," he said coldly.

Avery and Snape sniggered at them for one last time, and then Avery shook Sirius off him and both of them walked out of the Transfigurations classroom. James and Sirius stood there, frozen, until Remus shook both of their arms gently.

"You can't go duel them," he said. "Merlin knows what they've learnt over the summer, now they can use magic outside school. I bet they wouldn't flinch at the use of an Unforgivable Curse on you, Prongs. Not on you either, Padfoot."

But James shook Remus off briskly, staring into the wall and frowning deeply.

"I swore I wouldn't bully Snape this year," he mumbled under his breath. "But this time – oh, this time he's going to pay for his words."

...

**A/N**: Taa-daah! Chapter five done. I know it's not much, but it's the best I could come up with to sort of introduce chapter six, which will be pretty important for the story. Anyway, I hope you liked it – please review! All of my reviewers are ahh-may-zing, by the way, lots of love to y'all! :D

Elli xx


	6. The Midnight Duel

**Chapter Six: The Midnight Duel**

...

Remus couldn't stop thinking about James and Sirius's defy to Snape and Avery. As midnight drew closer, he sat in the Gryffindor common room with Peter, who was absentmindedly playing Gobstones with a group of third-years.

"Wormtail," he hissed. "_Wormtail_."

"What?" asked the boy as he took one of the third-years' pieces.

"Do you think we should tell someone about tonight's duel?" Remus asked. "Perhaps Lily could convince James to quit it. Or we can go after them ourselves – "

"I guess it'd be better to let them deal with this, Moony," whispered Peter after a few seconds. "It's Snape who defied them, after all. If they chicken out of it, they won't leave themselves in a good position, will they?"

Remus let Peter's words sink in. He couldn't care less about James and Sirius's position, all he knew was that Snape had gained important Dark powers over the summer and he was just willing to put them into practice with the two Gryffindors he loathed the most. And of course, Avery was a very well known Death Eater trainee, so he knew all kind of hexes and curses that would make Sirius and James fall to their knees in pain. And, of course, there was also the reckless use of the three Unforgivable Curses. Remus doubted either Snape or Avery would think it twice before cursing James or Sirius with the Cruciatus curse, or even the Imperius curse just to share a good laugh while commanding the two Gryffindors to make all sorts of stupid things.

A shiver travelled down his spine as he thought about how they wouldn't flinch on the use of the third Unforgivable Curse, and automatically stood up.

"Where'r you going?" asked Peter, looking up from the Gobstones game.

"Um – I'm gonna go talk to Mary about an Ancient Runes essay," he quickly lied. "I'll be right back."

"Ah, I see," said Peter with something like a smirk. "You're going to try and hit on that Mary girl, right?"

Remus felt how his cheeks turned bright red, but he said nothing. He quickly spun around, muttering a vage good-bye to Peter, and jolted up the girls' staircase until he reached the seventh year dormitory. He knocked twice – boys couldn't get past the door into the girls' dormitories – and the door was opened by Dorcas in a matter of seconds.

"Hey, Remsies!" she exclaimed happily.

"Please, do not call me that," said Remus. "Anyway – "

"Have you come looking for Mary?" she asked, half-giggling.

Remus peered over the girl's shoulder, and saw other four girls sitting there, one of them flushed bright red. He tried to ignore the patches of his cheeks turning red once again and turned back to Dorcas.

"I'm actually looking for Lily – " he said quickly, and then gave it a second thought. " – and Marlene."

"Oh yep, just a sec," she answered. Then she winked an eye at him. "Too bad, I'd hoped you'd come looking for Mary."

Remus's cheeks turned a shade of scarlet for the third time in that evening, but he said nothing and so Dorcas turned back to her roommates and called Lily and Marlene, who stood up and walked to the door.

"What's up, Remus?" asked Lily happily. "We haven't talked much this year...it seems you and Mary are always together lately," she winked an eye at him, and Remus looked away nervously, to which Lily laughed. "Just joking, Rem. Anyway, what do you want?"

"I – um – " he started, looking at the two girls. "Could we have a word in the common room, the three of us?"

"I think I should be heading to my dorm already," said Lily. "It's half past eleven..."

"It'll just be a second," he pleaded. "It's really important."

Marlene and Lily shared curious glances, but then nodded at Remus almost in unison. Relieved, Remus turned to the curious-looking Dorcas, who still stood in the doorway as if expecting her friends to return in any minute.

"We'll be back in a minute, Dorcas," said Remus. "Oh, by the way...could you tell Mary we'll finish the Ancient Runes homework tomorrow at the library, after classes?"

"Yep, sure," said Dorcas, once again looking about to giggle.

Said this, the blond-haired girl closed the door and the threesome walked down the stairs to the common room, which was almost deserted now.

"Well, what's wrong?" asked Marlene. "You've been acting rather odd today, Remus."

Remus looked around, and saw Peter had already left the common room. Relieved, he looked up at the two girls with a serious expression.

"Sirius and James are in trouble," he blurted out. "And I mean, real trouble. Snape and Avery defied them to a duel at midnight, and I know as a fact those two have been learning some pretty Dark magic over the summer...I've tried convincing them, but they wouldn't listen. I was wondering if you could exert some more pressure on them than I can, and make them stop this nonsense."

He stopped talking for a second and saw the two girls were sharing horrified glances. After a few seconds of silence, it was Lily who spoke up.

"And where is this duel taking place?" she asked quietly.

"I believe it was somewhere in the third floor," muttered Remus. "But I must've misheard. The third floor's been abandoned for ages – "

"Which makes it the perfect place for a midnight duel," mused Marlene, looking close to petrification. Then she looked at Lily. "We have to stop them at once! Merlin knows the Dark magic those two can use on James and Sirius, seeing they're practically Death-Eaters-in-training."

"Of course we'll stop them," said Lily resolutely. "Oh, if only those two knew to shut up at times – "

"Well, it's too late anyway," said Marlene breathlessly. "We've got to go to the Heads Dorm, Lily! They must be preparing themselves over there."

"Yeah, that's a good idea," mused Remus, who was standing in front of them with a frown visible in his forehead. "But you'll want to be quiet. Filch is always on the lure. James's got his Invisibility Cloak, so those two won't have any problems."

"Remus, go tell the others Marlene and I won't come back in a while," Lily instructed her friend. "And try to cover those two up in front of Peter and Tom. Tell them they're ill or something – "

"Oh, Tom and Peter already know about the duel," said Remus. "But anyway, I'll go tell the girls. But please, please hurry – the duel starts in twenty minutes."

Marlene and Lily said breathless good-byes to Remus, and the two girls sped outside the portrait of the Fat Lady towards the Heads Dorm. They were running out of time, it was only fifteen minutes until the duel started –

"Gillyweed!" Lily practically yelled at the portrait in front of the Heads Dorm, who was snoring loudly.

"Now, now," said the white-bearded wizard in a rather bad mood. "No need to shout, young lady."

As the portrait door creaked open, Lily didn't spare a second in apologising to the portrait, which was very unlike her. She just felt too stressed about James and Sirius. How could they have been so foolish? They shouldn't have accepted that duel from Snape and Avery, they could very well end up killed. For a second she wondered why did she even worry about what might have happened to those two boys she had disliked so much only five days ago, but found herself yelling their names in the Heads Dorm with the plain answer in front of her.

She did care about James. She did care about him a great deal, although she had not noticed until then.

"JAMES!" she bellowed.

"SIRIUS!" yelled Marlene.

"JAMES! SIRIUS!" tried Lily again, desperation visible in her voice.

She felt how anxiousness gained over her as she slammed James's room's door open and found nothing but his bed neatly done and all of his possessions spread on the floor, which was very much like James Potter. In any other ocassion, Lily would have smiled or even laughed at this view, but right then she couldn't do anything else than feeling deeply panicked.

"They're not here," she groaned, as she sped back to the living room. "We have to get to the third floor as quickly as possible, Marlene."

"Look," Marlene whispered, pointing at the clock in front of them.

To Lily's dismay, she saw the clock striking precisely twelve o'clock.

"We've got to go," she insisted hoarsely. "Merlin knows what will those gits do to James and Sirius."

"But Lily – "

"_We've – got – to – go_!" she hissed imperiously to her best friend.

Marlene looked at her for a second, and Lily realized Marlene was looking as fearful as ever. She knew Marlene had fancied Sirius for a while, and she really feared whatever could happen to him within the next few minutes.

"Okay," she whispered. "Let's go. We're about five or six minutes away from the third floor from here."

Lily nodded. The two friends bolted out of the Heads Dorm and made their way to the third floor as quickly and quietly as possible. They both knew they'd be in trouble if Filch or his cat Mrs Norris found them, but luckily they both reached the third floor having passed completely unnoticed.

"OK," said Lily, almost panting. "Where now? The third floor's pretty big."

"I guess we could walk down there," suggested Marlene. "To the abandoned part. You know, the old Potions classroom and all."

Both of them set foot to the old Potion classroom, which had been abandoned – as Dorcas had told them in their second year – after a huge explosion had killed three students in mid-eighteenth century. Of course, Lily had always thought that was all an old wives' tale, but right then she couldn't help but wondering if the three ghosts might be lurking around the classroom, helping either James and Sirius or Snape and Avery.

As they approached the old Potions classroom, they heard someone yell something that made the hair on the back of Lily's neck stand up on its edges.

"Sectunsempra!"

She knew Snape had created a curse named like that, which provoked big gashes and wounds in the body of the person receiving it. She imagined James lying on the floor, a big gash running down his chest, bleeding to death with Sirius badly wounded to his side too –

As tears tried to make their way past Lily's eyelashes, the girl rubbed them away furiously and ran into the old Potions classroom.

She found exactly what she had been fearing, but worse, much worse. James was lying in the ground, convulsing terribly and blood streaming down his chest. Sirius was on his knees, gasping terribly, and Lily's eyes widened in shock as she saw Avery smiling recklessly as he cried once again.

"_Crucio_!"

Sirius, however, had managed to break out of the spell before the second one was directed towards him, and sent a jet of red light towards Avery.

"_Stupefy_!"

Avery jumped backwards and fell straight onto the floor. Snape, however, was still muttering words under his breath, making new gashes and wounds appear all over James's body. Lily whipped out her wand and even before Snape could notice her, she yelled at him.

"_PETRIFICUS TOTALUS_!"

A jet of blue light flew towards Snape, who ducked just in time. His curse on James seemed to have stopped, but he was still bleeding profusely. Snape was just standing there, his eyes wide, not daring to move his wand towards Lily. She saw something like fear set across his face, but she couldn't tell why. Nor did she care, she would not let him hurt James and Sirius. Expecting Snape to attack her in any moment, she stood with her wand aloft in a defensive position, but Snape just stood there, as if the petrifying spell had really hit him, staring at her.

However, Avery jumped up from behind a moth-eaten curtain and pointed directly at Lily.

"_Crucio_!"

Lily fell to her knees limply. She felt a searing pain filling his body, and not even her yells and screams could suffocate it. She felt her whole body numbing with pain, and she didn't know how to stop it. Her brain hammered, and her eyes seemed to bulge out...she knew the end was close, in fact, she'd rather end it than stay like this much long...she felt her lungs burning in a despaired attempt to breath...

"_Stupefy_!"

Lily fell forward to the floor, panting heavily. The curse had stopped, but she was still feeling the numb pain filling her body...Avery had just used an Unforgivable Curse on her and Sirius, and he was likely to come out of it unpunished, because no one would be able to prove he had ever done it...

"_Petrificus Totalus_!"

"_Levicorpus_!"

"_Sectunsempra_!"

"_Engorgio_!"

"_Crucio_!"

"_Stupefy_!"

A few seconds of silence passed by, and Lily couldn't tell if any of her friends was still alive. She then felt how a sticky hand tried to pull her up. She quickly realized it was James's hand, covered in his own blood.

"James," she breathed, barely being able to breath properly yet.

"Lily!" he cried. "How – why did you come? That was so stupid of you, you've been hurt – "

"Not much more than you have, as I can see," said Lily weakly.

As she looked up at him, she noticed James sported a gash traveling down his left cheek. His lip had been cut and his right eye was black and swollen. He could also see small cuts over his arms, and an enormous gash in his chest, which was still bleeding and damping his already reddened shirt. She saw that, however, James had managed to pull his cloak around it and at least the bleeding had slowly recessed.

"James!" she muttered. "You're bleeding!"

But James was a loss for words in that moment. Seeing Lily there, having just risked her own life to save him from one of his foolish actions. He didn't think it twice and enveloped her in a strong, caring embrace, which Lily seemed to take quite well. He brushed his lips against her red hair, which he was struggling not to kiss. In fact, he wanted to kiss every single inch of Lily's body so badly, yet he knew it was not possible.

He then looked up at Marlene, who seemed to be branding Sirius's cloak as a sort of bandage. His friend seemed to be unconscious, and just a few seconds later Marlene scooped him up with all her might, and stood up.

"Lily," she whispered. "We can't take them to the hospital wing. They'll ask about it and we don't want to draw any attention into this – "

Lily nodded at once. "Do you need any help carrying Sirius to the Gryffindor Tower?"

"Oh, not at all," she said. "Besides, you're still weak. You two'd better go back to your dorm and get a good rest."

Lily nodded and watched Marlene and Sirius walking out of the clasroom, the boy now limping slowly. She still felt James's strong arms around her. She suddenly wanted to slap him for being so stupid, but at the same time she was just so glad to see he was alive. She could have kissed him right then, but of course she then thought it would look a bit odd. Later on, she would tell herself it was just euphoria filling her body.

"Hey, James," she whispered after a few seconds. "Shall we go back?"

James nodded quietly and tried to stand up. He had a few bruises in his legs, but other than that he could walk correctly, only limping slightly every now and then. The two of them walked down the corridors silently, James brushing out the scarce blood still dripping out of the gash in his chest every now and then. When they finally made it to the Heads Dorm's common room, looking as relieved as ever, Lily looked at him with a worried look.

"I think I'd better see those cuts," she whispered.

James nodded, sitting on the sofa. Lily placed her hand on his good cheek gently, and inspected the gash in his other cheek carefully. After a few seconds, she muttered a healing spell with her wand and the cut disappeared. She repeated the process with the cuts and bruises in his arms, but she couldn't find any charm to heal his black eye.

"I guess you'll have to deal with it for a few days," she commented quietly.

"Oh, that'll be fine," James chuckled. Then he looked down at the gash in his chest and made a gesture as to unbutton his shirt. "Shall I – ?"

"Oh, sure," Lily answered quickly, inadvertedly blushing over the thought of seeing James's bare chest.

She couldn't help but think James was quite fit, but then she realized she was supposed to heal the nasty-looking gash in his chest. She muttered the spell repeatedly, which made gash close, but there was still a small scar in his chest.

"I guess that'll wear off in a few days," she commented, as she buttoned up his shirt.

James gave her a truthful smile. "Thanks, Lily. You're the most fantastic girl in the world."

Lily blushed at the comment.

"Why so?" she asked timidly, as she dropped her wand inside her cloak.

"You risked your life to come and find me," he mumbled. "I was an idiot, you could have gotten killed – "

"I couldn't bear with the thought of that boy hurting you," she whispered. Then she gave him a small mischievous smile. "_Snivellus_, you know."

James grinned at her proudly. Lily was about to stand up to get back to her room when she felt James's hand wrapping around her wrist gently.

"Let's stay here, shall we?" he asked.

"What do you mean, stay here?" she asked, surprised.

"Let's sleep here tonight, the two of us," James whispered. "I don't think I'll be able to make it to my room anyway...and I could really use some company, you know."

Lily bit her lower lip and looked at James with a funny expression. If James had asked her that very same question only five days ago, she would have slapped him as hard as ever, and yet now she was even considering _sleeping_ with James Potter.

"There isn't enough space for the two of us here," she commented.

As an answer to her comment, James took out his wand and muttered a spell, making the sofa just as wide as a queen-sized bed. Then he looked up to her with a rather pleading smile. Lily couldn't say no.

"Oh, fine," she whispered, a smile playing on her lips. "Sleeping won't hurt."

She flopped onto the couch next to James, who grinned in pure glee. She closed her eyes as she felt the boy's arms wrapping around her, his cheek pressing against the back of her head. James let out a long yawn and closed his eyes, feeling the luckiest man alive. For the last time in that night, his lips brushed against Lily's red hair, and he dozed off to sleep. Lily sighed and felt how the corners of her lips curled up before dozing off too.

And for the first time in a few days, Lily fell asleep with a smile on her face.

...

**A/N**: So there you have a very sappy chapter from yours truly. I hope you enjoyed it...things are starting to get fluffy here. Ooooh, I love fluff. Anyway, chapter seven will come soon! Thanks to all of my amazing reviewers, it means a lot to me to know you're liking my story so far. :-)

Elli xx


	7. The Prank

**Chapter Seven: The Prank**

...

As morning arose, Lily realized where she was and what had happened over the last few hours. A series of images flashed through her head, remembering everything that had happened on the previous night: how she and Marlene had run after James and Sirius, how they had witnessed their duel –

And the fact that she was actually sleeping with James Potter.

She felt his arms around her and his slow, peaceful snores. It now seemed outrageous for her to think that she had slept with James Potter. Had she lost her mind? Where was the sensible, intelligent Lily who would have slapped James Potter at the sole suggestion of sleeping together? Then again, the previous night had been pure mayhem, and perhaps all Lily had to do was to clear her mind before daring to talk to Potter again.

Lily bit her lip. She somehow knew he would brag about what happened, tell his friends he had _slept_ with her, and let the whole school know in no time. Lily would be called horrible things, despite knowing that absolutely nothing had happened between them after she had laid next to him in the sofa.

Pondering what should she do, she slipped out of James's arms and walked to her bedroom, where she changed her clothes into a new, clean uniform the house elves must have left there over the night. When she came out, and to her great disgust, she found James Potter grinning at her.

"What's up, Lily?" he asked cheerfully, fixing his tie to his shirt collar. Then he winked at her, "Had a good night?"

Lily groaned and walked away from him, "Morning, Potter."

James stood there, frozen. He couldn't understand what was happening. Why was she acting so cold around him, like she had done over the first days of school? He hoped she would suddenly turn around and look at him with one of her beautiful smiles, say she was just kidding and come back and give him a hug or do something girl-ish. But when the girl walked through the portrait hole, slamming poor Sir Landon closed as she left.

"Girls," he mumbled as he scrambled to his back and walked after her.

...

"You did _what_ with James Potter?" asked Dorcas incredulously, a bit too loudly for Lily's liking.

Porridge splattered everywhere from Dorcas's spoon, which had flown out of her hand at the news Lily had brought them. Mary was now hastily trying to get a porridge stain off her skirt, glaring at Dorcas angrily. Tom and Sophie, by other hand, gaped at Lily, feeling completely shocked. Marlene just sniggered, muttering something that sounded oddly similar to 'I told you'.

"But Lily!" exclaimed Sophie. "You two – you _hated_ him two weeks ago, for Merlin's sake!"

"Yeah," agreed Tom, who had left the Marauders when he had seen they were planning one of their pranks again. "How come?"

Lily shrugged, "It's not like we did anything. We just...slept together. I mean, it's not that strange to sleep with someone else."

"Well, of course it isn't," snorted Dorcas. "If you're _dating_ him. But you – you despise James Potter!"

Lily groaned, "I know I did, okay? But come on, everyone can see he's changed. I mean, it isn't like he's suddenly a saint or anything...but he's a lot nicer than last year, you know."

"That guy wants to get in your pants since fourth year, Lils," said Mary knowingly. "Sleeping with him has only made him feel like he has a chance with you."

"Well, what about you and Remus?" asked Lily hotly. "I bet your 'Ancient Runes essay' isn't all he wants from you, right?"

Mary blushed bright red, and stared onto the porridge stain on her skirt shyly. Tom and Sophie shared worried glances, whilst Dorcas fumbled with her textbooks mumbling things like 'Everyone's going insane' or 'hormone boosts are never good'. Marlene placed her hand over Lily's shoulder, and patted her back gently.

"We all knew this would come, Lils," sighed the girl dreamily.

"Marlie has a point there," agreed Sophie happily. "We all knew James would be Lily's frog who turned into a prince, sooner or later."

Lily and Sophie giggled together at this, although Dorcas and Marlene seemed bewildered at their friend's comment.

"What do you mean, a frog turning into a prince?" Dorcas questioned. "Is James an Animagus frog or something?"

The three Muggle-born girls – including Mary, who seemed to have already forgotten Lily's sharp words from before – laughed loudly at Dorcas's question, whilst the two other girls and Tom seemed surprised by their attitude.

"It's a Muggle fairytale," giggled Mary. "It's like Beedle the Bard's Tales."

"Well, that's fascinating," commented Tom. "How come Muggles know about Animagi?"

"There's no such thing as Muggle Animagi," said Marlene quickly. Then she casted a worried look towards Lily, "is there?"

Lily laughed, "Of course there isn't. It's just – magic as Muggles see it."

"I thought Muggles didn't know anything about the Wizarding World?" asked Dorcas doubtfully, still not convinced about a Muggle prince turning into a frog, and vice versa.

"Oh, forget it," snickered Mary. "It's just too hard for you guys to understand."

"Anyway," said Marlene, turning back towards Lily. "We went slightly off the topic. What's gonna happen with you and James?"

"What'd you mean, happen with us?" she asked casually, trying to shake off the topic.

"Oh, come off it," groaned Dorcas. Then, she looked at her friend with an inquiring yet snickering expression. "Are you two dating? Do you fancy him, at least? You know you can tell us."

"_Purr-lease_," snorted Lily. "I, dating James Potter? I haven't changed _that_ much."

Her friends exchanged glances, not believing there wasn't anything going on between Lily and James. Tom fidgeted with his bacon, snickering from time to time. Sophie glanced at Lily as she chewed a sausage thoughtfully, giving her an 'I-told-you-he-wasn't-that-bad' look. Marlene sat next to her, grinning into her beans for no apparent reason, whilst Dorcas and Mary were picking on Lily by discussing when would they find James and Lily snogging in a broom closet. Lily tried to ignore them and eat her porridge more or less calmly. Of course, even eating porridge calmly was impossible at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

"Hey, Lily Flower!"

Lily looked up to find the four Marauders looking down at her. James was grinning pleasantly, Sirius was casting a charming smile towards Marlene, who smiled shyly, Remus sat in front of Lily and served himself some egg and sausages and Peter did the same, filling his plate with bacon and buttered toasts. Lily was sure the four boys would start commenting about how James and her had slept together, and she mentally prepared herself a good lecture for James and his friends. However, no comments about last night were issued – not even about the duel with the Slytherins.

"I think James hasn't told anyone," whispered Dorcas into Lily's ear. Then her eyebrows rose. "Unlike you."

Lily blushed, but said nothing. She watched how James ate his porridge silently, looking up at her from time to time. She still felt uncomfortable around him, but at least she didn't have any reasons to be mad at him any more, which seemed like quite a pleasant thing.

Since the ten seventh year Gryffindors had arrived early for breakfast, it was now when the Great Hall started getting crowded with students who came to have breakfast before the first lessons of the day. Hufflepuffs talked animatedly, arriving from their common room under the kitchens, and the rest of Gryffindors and the Ravenclaws seemed to have joined up in the hallways on their way to the Great Hall, some groups now dispersing to get to their respective tables. The Slytherins walked into the Great Hall as usually, looking at everyone else with an air of superiority and sitting to eat breakfast at the very right end of the Great Hall.

"Prongs, when is it supposed to get started?" asked Sirius a while later, eating his toast with a funny expression on his face.

"Oh, it shall be up soon," said James in an equally funny tone.

Lily rose her eyebrows at their mysterious words, but said nothing. She had almost finished breakfast when she saw what the Marauders were up to.

The Slytherin table was suddenly filled with shrieks of surprise and anger. Lily saw how the students from the green and silver House stared at each other, yelling at the other three tables. All of their robes had changed drastically. Some of them had been dressed up like Muggle clowns, others bore a rather rude resemblance to a snake as clothing, and others had been dressed up as pirates. Some of the Slytherins tried to get their magicked costumes off them, but they seemed to have been glued to their skins. Every single Slytherin was yelling in disgust, some of them crying, 'I'm sure it's those filthy Marauders again!'.

Meanwhile, the rest of the Great Hall had burst out in laughter. The Ravenclaws were laughing loudly, while Hufflepuffs giggled and flashed apologetical smiles towards the Slytherins. The Gryffindors were practically rolling on the floor with laughter, some of the younger ones even holding their bellies and roaring with laughter at the same time. Tom and Sophie had embraced each other in pure laughter, while Dorcas and Mary were slamming the Gryffindor table in a fit of noisy laughs. Marlene was chuckling and eyeing Sirius suspiciously, whom was laying on the bench, laughing noisily. Remus chuckled to himself, whilst Peter patted James's back proudly. The boy smiled at Lily, and his smile became a grin when he saw she was chuckling softly.

"That was mean," she commented a while later. "Mean, but funny."

She looked worriedly at Snape. He had been dressed up as a pirate, and was wearing a pirate hat on top of his greasy black hair. She gave him an apologetical smile, to which he simply responded with a hurt, blank expression. She felt bad about him, and pulled out her wand to try and fix him –

"Miss Evans!"

She turned around to find Professor McGonagall looking at her, completely bewildered.

"I cannot believe you have had anything to do with this nasty exhibition of rudeness!" she exclaimed. "I shall take fifty points from Gryffindor and you and Mr. Potter will attend detention next Thursday with Mr. Filch, suspecting this young man has had something to do with this too. Lupin, Black and Pettigrew may serve detention the following day."

"But Professor – " Lily started, glaring angrily at the Marauders. "It wasn't me! I was only trying – "

"No excuses, Miss Evans. I'll see you on Thursday," she said. "I feel completely ashamed of your behaviour today, young lady."

Said this, McGonagall walked back to the Professors Table, where she gave Lily and James one more warning look before returning to her peas.

Lily glared at James angrily.

"Now I've got detention just because of your stupid prank!" she exclaimed, glaring at all four Marauders.

"Come on Lily Flower, detention's not that bad," said Sirius. "Besides, you wouldn't be in trouble if you hadn't pulled out your wand."

Lily scoffed, but said nothing. Well, it wouldn't do her any good to get angry at them now. The prank was done, the Slytherins were all running around the Great Hall, trying to get their costumes off, Slughorn desperately trying to fix it with the help of Professor Flitwick. Truth be told, the view was rather fun, despite having been punished.

"When will it wear off?" she asked James finally, trying to keep her voice cool.

"Dunno, a couple of weeks for the most," he answered, feeling rather worried about Lily being mad at him again.

The girl chuckled softly, "Well, at least it will be fun to see them attend their classes with those silly costumes on."

James grinned, and watched how Lily left the Great Hall, a glimpse of a smile on her face. Her friends soon followed, and when Remus left with Mary to Arithmancy, James sighed dreamily and looked at Sirius with a grin.

"I think I'm in love with Lily."

Sirius patted his back, and mumbled something that sounded oddly like, 'Tell me something I don't know'.

...

A/N: Taa-daa! That was chapter seven. I had a minor writer's block with this one, but I guess it's not as bad as I would have expected. I'd like to say thank you to my awesome reviewer **autumnconfusion123**, who has supported this story from the beginning and has encouraged me to keep it going. Thanks SO much! :) Oh, and please do post your James/Lily story – I'm sure your writing's amazing. :3

And of course, I'd also like to give a shoutout to **Rowanrules41**, who has reviewed and read every single chapter of every story I have written here so far, no matter how awful it was. And of course, because she remembered my birthday yesterday, that was so sweet of her. Thank you so so so so much, buddy! :)

Anyway...next chapter shall be up soon!

Eleanor x


	8. Detention

**Chapter Eight: Detention**

...

As the rest of the week flew by, Lily found herself packing away on a particularly sunny late September afternoon, after her last lesson of the day, Charms. Watching how her classmates were still trying to reduce their hair to normal size, after having spent the last hour practicing Hair-Lengthening Charms, she felt how someone tapped her shoulder and turned to find James grinning at her.

"Hey, Lily," he greeted her. She couldn't help but notice, over his shoulder, Sirius bragging about his new long hair and Peter worriedly trying to fix his back to normal length, branding long hair to his knees which neither Remus nor Sirius knew how to fix. "We've detention tonight, remember? After dinner."

"Oh – right," answered Lily. He had been repeating the detention date and hour over the last week, which kind of annoyed her. "Yeah, well. I'll see you at dinner and we'll head over to Filch's office afterwards, all right?"

James nodded happily, and turned back to his friends. With a slight tap of his wand over Peter's head, he was able to bring the boy's hair back to its normal length. Lily chuckled at the sight of the four seventeen-year-olds dwelling over their hair length, and turned around to find Dorcas and Marlene chuckling at her.

"What?" she asked, trying to ignore the smirks on their faces.

"Oh, nothing," chuckled Dorcas. "We were just wondering what'll happen today between you and Potter."

Lily shrugged as the three of them walked out of the classroom, leaving Mary – who was now chatting with Remus – and the Marauders back inside. She wouldn't discuss it again. She had stopped disliking James, but that didn't mean she would accept him as more than a friend.

The three girls had already changed their discussion topic and were now fussing over the Defence Against the Dark Arts assessment that was to be handed in the following day. Marlene hadn't even started it – much to Lily's annoyance, as she took care of reminding her best friend – whilst Dorcas knew she would be lucky if professor Dougal gave her more than a 'D'. Lily was about to tip them on Dementors when they came to a halt as they found two teenagers kissing in the corridor.

"Tom?" gaped Lily. "Sophie?"

They suddenly stopped kissing each other, and turned back to their friends with their faces as scarlet as their House badge. Lily gaped at them, Dorcas smirked and Marlene squealed happily.

"Well, this is awkward," commented Dorcas after a few seconds of silence.

"Well, yeah," answered Tom a bit awkwardly. He glanced at Sophie nervously and gave her a small smile.

"This is just so sweet!" squealed Lily happily, hugging them both. "I _knew_ you guys would end up together! It's just so cute and all – "_  
_

Tom and Sophie stood there, beaming at each other. Dorcas was now making gagging noises as if she were about to throw up while Marlene giggled, slapping the back of her head friendly.

"You guys look lovely," gushed Marlene.

"You wait till the guys know about this!" exclaimed Lily.

"Oh, no," said Tom jokingly. "_The guys_."

"So is it official?" asked Dorcas. "Are you guys dating?"

Sophie and Tom shared a glance and the girl nodded, "I guess we are."

Lily and Marlene squealed together and hugged Tom and Sophie whilst Dorcas resumed her gagging noises, although she did pat Tom's back approvingly as the three girls left the newly founded couple to enjoy each other. When they reached the Heads Dorm, the three of them threw their schoolbags to the floor and flopped onto the couch together, looking at the crackling fire.

"Now it's just us three, the single ladies," sighed Lily.

"No way," Marlene snorted. "You are _so_ not single. I'll give you a month 'till Dorcas and I find you snogging Potter mercilessly in the very same spot where we found Tom and Sophie today."

"Well Marlie, you and Sirius seem to have something going on too," retorted Dorcas, who seemed done with her gagging sounds for that day. "I mean – you just have to look at the pair of you to see you'll end up together sooner or later."

Marlene blushed at Dorcas's comment, but said nothing. The three girls stared into the fire, thinking about the boys they had dated throughout their lives – Lily could remember her only boyfriend, Sam Terra, whom she had been dating for a year and a half until the previous April, whilst Marlene remembered mischievously all the boys she had snogged with in a broom closet, and those rather embarrassing times when she had been discovered – and cruelly put in detention – by Remus and Lily. Dorcas's mind, not unlike her friends', drifted away to a certain Ravenclaw she had grown fond of over last year...

The three of them sighed in unison. Oh, what it was to be young and in love.

...

After most people had shuffled out of the Great Hall towards their common rooms, James and Lily walked to the Trophy Room, where the Squib caretaker of the school would be waiting for them. And precisely, there he was, holding two identical cloths and a bucket of water in his hands, a pleasant smile plastered on his face.

"Oh no," groaned James as they made their way towards him. "Cleaning detentions are the worst – he gets _so_ annoying, making you scrub twice every single tile on the floor..."

Lily gulped as they reached the rather evil-looking caretaker, who simply handed each of them a cloth and dumped the bucket of water on James's arms, smiling happily.

"Well, off we go," he instructed them. "You'll be cleaning the Trophey Room tonight. I have to hunt Peeves tonight, so I won't be accompanying you – but I'll come back at midnight. And if you two even dare to lounge around and go lazy, I'll let McGonagall know immediately."

Lily nodded approvingly, while James did a mere grunt. Filch smiled devilishly once again, and then ushered both of them into the Trophy Room. With a soft _click!_ in the door lock, both of them knew they were stuck in the Trophey Room for a good four hours.

"Well," sighed Lily. "We'd better get working."

"Oh, come on," James groaned, looking at the cloth and the bucket lazily. "Are you serious?"

"No, I'm Lily, can't you see?" joked Lily.

James grinned at her little joke and sprinted behind her. The girl decided she would start on the right side of the room, whilst James would do the left side. James felt a little displeased since he would have liked to share a talk with Lily, but obeyed. They both took their cloths and sunk them into the water bucket, and set off to their respective trophies.

"Gee, it's the Quidditch trophies over here!" exclaimed James happily a few seconds later.

"That's why I let you get that part," commented Lily happily, as she cleaned hastily one of the hundreds of 'Head Boy' and 'Head Girl' badges. She read 'Arcturus Black, 1920-1921' and wondered if Arcturus had been the uncle of Sirius's who had given Regulus's his second name. She left the badge back on its place, and then took 'Andromeda Black, 1970-1971'.

"Did you know Sirius's favourite cousin was Head Girl the year before we arrived at school?" asked Lily casually.

"Andromeda?" asked James. "Oh yeah. She married Ted Tonks, a Muggle-born, and got blasted off the family tree."

Lily was not surprised to find another badge next to Andromeda's which made her smile. 'Ted Tonks, 1970-1971'. Had Sirius's cousin and the love of her life got together because they had both been Head Students in their year? It sounded so romantic...

Almost involuntarily, she glanced towards James, who was distractedly cleaning a 1956 Quidditch Cup.

Many, many badges followed into Lily's hands. Some names she recognized ("James! Was your father _really_ Head Boy too?") and others she didn't, but it wasn't as bad as she had thought. She glanced at James from time to time, and was glad to find he was having fun by counting how many Quidditch Cups had Gryffindor won against Slytherin. All in all, the evening wasn't too bad, until Lily found a badge that made her frown.

_Tom Marvolo Riddle, 1943-1944_

"Marvolo..." she whispered. "Riddle!"

"What's up, Lils?" asked James, who was drawing closer now that he had finished with the Quidditch trophies and was cleaning the Special Services Awards.

"Nothing," she murmured. "I remember this name from something, that's all."

James walked towards her with the trophy he was currently cleaning, and peered over.

"Tom Marvolo Riddle," he read. "Well, it wasn't that long ago. Maybe he became a famous wizard or something?"

"No, it's not the name," she insisted. "It's – it's the surname. My mum used to live at a small town when she was little, you see – before she moved to Manchester. And actually, my grandparents lived there until they died five years ago. The thing is, my grandpa told me about a murder that had happened to one of the wealthiest families in the town, the Riddles. Tom Riddle, a Muggle man, and his parents had been found dead with no sings of being shot, strangled, poisoned or any other way of Muggle murdering that is known of."

"So what?" asked James. "There must be tons of Riddles in Britain. You don't pretend to track down this bloke because his name's in a Head Boy badge, do you?"

"No," said Lily stiffly. "But still, it's odd. The man was named Tom Riddle, but not Tom _Marvolo_ Riddle."

"D'you reckon he could have been a Muggle-born wizard?" he asked casually.

Lily shook her head, "He went to school with my grandpa, they were close friends and all. Also, this Tom Riddle is much younger than the one my grandfather knew."

"Perhaps he's his son," commented James, still not convinced. "Or a nephew or something. Come on, it isn't _that_ odd."

"No, James," insisted Lily calmly. "Tom Riddle was an only child, and he was single. Well, she spent a couple of years seeing this odd girl from the countryside, I think – but they split up – "

"There you go," said James. "Perhaps Tom ditched his girlfriend when he found out she was pregnant, and the boy is Riddle's son."

"But how come he's here?" she asked. "Well – _Head Boy_."

"Um, excuse me, Lily Evans," he said. "But I think you'd know better than anybody else that there are wizards who are born to Muggle parents, right?"

Lily frowned and placed Tom Riddle's badge back on its place, frowning deeply. It didn't fit. He looked around at the Head Students' badges. Some of them were yellow, others green, a big part were red and another fair amount were blue. Then it dawned on her. Tom Riddle's badge was green.

"Hold on!" she exclaimed. "His badge's green, which means he was a Slytherin. Muggle-borns are really, _really_ rare in Slytherin! And if they _do_ get sorted there, I doubt they would be made prefect or Head Students, because most Slytherins despise – well – us."

James frowned, and then shrugged again. "Maybe the woman Riddle had been with had been a witch. After all, you don't know much about her, do you?"

"My grandpa told me her name," said Lily, racking her brain as she tried to remember it. "I believe it was something starting with an 'M'...Melinda? Maria? Mathilda? Melissa?"

She shook her head defeatedly and resumed her cleaning, to which James grinned pleasantly. As much as he liked her – _loved_, he would say –, he still found it a bit odd that she fussed over things like a name in a Head Boy badge. When he turned back at the Special Awards trophy he was holding, the grin wiped off his face.

_Tom Marvolo Riddle_

_Special Services to the School_

_June 1943_

"There goes our friend again," he mumbled.

"What's that?" asked Lily as she left 'Frank Longbottom, 1974-1975' back on its place. She glanced towards the trophy, although James tried to hide it from her hastily, and ended up snatching it from his hands. "Aha! I knew it. Tom Marvolo Riddle – Special Services to the School – June 1943...I wonder which were these 'Special Services'? He was Prefect that year, too."

"Lily, you're going paranoid about this Riddle bloke," he sighed. "Look, he probably was just Riddle's son – "

"But James!" she exclaimed suddenly, ignoring him. "It was summer 1943 when Tom Riddle and his parents were murdered! This _certainly _has to mean something!"

"What, that that Riddle bloke murdered his Dad and grandparents?" asked James hotly. "Honestly Lily, this is _absurd_."

"Don't you understand?" she asked furiously. "This Tom Riddle was a wizard – there were no signs of Muggle murder when Tom Riddle Senior and his parents were found dead – it must have been a wizard who killed them! And yet he was appointed Head Boy the next year..."

James couldn't help but wonder if Lily could be right. After all, the girl had a point – why would a wizard want to kill a perfectly normal elderly couple and their son if they didn't have a good reason? And wasn't being ditched by a father before he was even born a reason enough to murder someone? Still, _murder_ – someone who had been Head Boy, just like he and Lily – awarded with the Special Services trophy by Armando Dippet...it made no sense, and James felt like Lily had been right all along.

Just as he was about to open his mouth and discuss Lily's words, the door slammed open.

"Well, well," said Filch. "I hope you two have done well, because otherwise I will be forced to report on Professor McGonagall..."

James and Lily nodded hastily, James placing Tom Riddle's Special Services trophy back in the Special Awards section. They had worked quite steadily before Lily had found Tom Riddle's badge, so Filch could find barely anything to fuss over.

"I see you've done better than I expected," he mumbled, sounding a bit disappointed. "So you may go. I will discuss with 'Fessor McGonagall if we should put you into detention again – which I truly hope."

James and Lily felt glad about having been dismissed at last, and scurried back to the Heads Dorm together. Neither of them mentioned Tom Riddle, Junior or Senior, and only said brief goodbyes when they reached their respective bedrooms.

But of course, it was all they could think about for the rest of the night.

...

**A/N**: So there it goes! Chapter eight done. :) Anyways, sorry about the whole 'my grandpa knew Tom Riddle Sr.' thing, I just thought it would be a quick way to introduce the topic into the story. So how did you like this one? I hope it was good, or at least acceptable. Well, next chapter shall be up soon!

Eleanor x


	9. The Appointment

**Chapter Nine: The Appointment**

...

As James had predicted, McGonagall didn't send them to detention on the following evening. Instead, they had spent a nice, relaxed evening with their friends in the Heads Dorm, Lily slightly panicking over their Defence Against the Dark Arts two-foot long essay on Inferi.

"But how are we supposed to work out the spell?" she asked, scandalized. "That's such Dark magic...I consulted every single book in the restricted section, and there wasn't a word about Inferi."

"Drajman is out of his bloody mind, I tell you," cursed Dorcas as she read over hers, which was barely a foot long.

"Chill, girls," said Sirius. "It ain't that bad."

"You only say that because you get to copy from Remus," protested Marlene.

Sirius seemed to ignore her and placed another card on top of the Exploding Snap game he was playing with James. To the three girls' delight, it exploded the very moment he left the card on top, his face now covered in ash and his eyebrows slightly burnt. The three girls giggled, James rolled in the floor with laughter.

"You'll see, Prongs," Sirius growled as he stacked the cards back. "You'll see."

The three girls turned back to their table, but instead of going back to work, Marlene leaned over and whispered, "Do you know where Mary is?"

Lily shook her head. Dorcas simply shrugged.

"She'll be in the library with Remus. They're always in there, aren't they?" the blond girl asked, not really caring.

"She's always around him lately," groaned Marlene. "D'you reckon she fancies him?"

"She hasn't told us anything," said Lily. "Nor do I think we should be speaking about this behind her back. Being friends with a boy doesn't mean you have to start fancying him."

Marlene rolled her eyes and mumbled something that sounded oddly like 'It kinda does', but Lily decided it would be best to ignore her. Dorcas just sighed and scribbled some words onto her essay, still staring at it blankly. The three girls worked silently in the common room, only disturbed by the ocassional explosion a few feet away from them, in which either James or Sirius would lose a bit of their eyebrows and the other would start rolling on the floor with laughter.

A while later, the five of them agreed to go get dinner. The Great Hall was as crowded as usually, so it was almost impossible to get a seat with the Tom and Remus, who were eating together.

"Hey, Rem!" said Lily happily as she took a seat next to her friend. "Where's Mary?"

"Oh, Sophie and her have to finish some Arithmancy essay," he explained calmly as he treated himself to his favourite cheesecake, having almost finished his dinner. "I'll go join them in a bit."

"Reckon you'll tell her you love her soon, Moony?" asked Sirius with a grin on his face.

Remus rolled his eyes and said nothing to his friend, who snickered. James looked at both of them, then casted a glance towards Lily, who was now helping herself to some chicken soup.

"And when are _you_ going to tell Lily Flower about your feelings, Prongsies?" whispered Sirius, noticing how his best friend stared at Lily.

"I dunno," he said. "I don't think she likes me...at least we're friends now. I don't want to ruin everything by going too fast."

"Please," snorted Marlene to his other side. "James Potter being sensible? Since when?"

"Why are you eavesdropping on us, McKinnon?" demanded Sirius. "It's a Marauder conversation, you know."

Marlene blushed, "I care about Lily too, you know." She turned to James, who was looking at her with a worried expression. "Don't worry, I won't tell her anything. But I think your chances are quite good right now. I mean, you're one of her closest friends now...and I think she's kind of grown fond of you."

James smiled brightly, "Really?"

Marlene nodded, filling James with a mixture of relief and optimism. He was about to say something when he noticed Lily was now glancing towards him. When their eyes met, James grinned at her, to which Lily answered with the sweetest smile James had ever seen.

When they were done with dinner, Dorcas told her friends she had to go to the library to research about Inferi for her Defence essay, and so she scurried out of the Great Hall after Remus, who had left to the library too. Sirius and Marlene went back to the Gryffindor common room, leaving James and Lily to start their shift.

"Hmmm," James yawned, stretching out his arms. "I'm not really in the mood for patrolling right now."

Lily laughed, "You're _never_ in the mood for patrolling, James."

The boy did something between a smirk and a snort, but nodded, "Fair point."

The two of them stood up from the Gryffindor table and walked past the students who still ate their dinner, Lily sighing at the sight of the small first years looking up at them with admiration visible on their faces. It seemed like ages ago when she was one of those eleven-year-old girls who looked up to the Gryffindor Prefects or the Head Students with admiration. Why did time have to fly so fast?

Just as they entered the Entrance Hall, Lily saw a small boy with a sprout of red-brown hair and big blue eyes running towards them with a purple piece of parchment in his hand.

"Lily, James," panted Simon McKinnon as he reached the two Head Students. "Professor Dumbledore has told me to give you this."

James gave the boy an acknowledging nod, "Thanks Simon."

The boy beamed, apparently honored by the fact that James Potter had remembered his name. He said goodbye to the two Head Students and scurried up the marble staircase, leaving them to read the small piece of parchment Dumbledore had sent them.

_Mr. Potter and Miss Evans,_

_I would like you to join me in my office tonight at half past eight. It is imperative that we discuss the new security measures to be taken in the school due to a recent attack to the Wizarding village of Hogsmeade._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore._

_P.S. I really need some Chocolate Frogs._

"Jeez, the man does have a long name," whispered James as he finished reading the piece of parchment. "And how come he tells us he needs Chocolate Frogs?"

Lily slapped his arm a bit too hard, angry at his words. "Look at this, you dunghead! Hogsmeade's just been attacked by the Death Eaters and you're just commenting how long our Headmaster's name is?"

James glared at her indignantly, "Of course I've read Hogsmeade's just been attacked! I was just pointing out – "

"I think we'd better head to his office right now," Lily cut him, already walking towards the gargoyle not far away from there.

"But Lily, it's only ten past eight!" James exclaimed.

Lily ignored him completely. James did a loud sigh, but finally followed her through the corridors until they jumped into the gargoyle in front of Dumbledore's office.

"Brilliant," mumbled Lily. "We don't have the password."

"Maybe we're ought to wait here?" James suggested hopefully. He really didn't like Lily's paranoid self.

"No, no," she mumbled. "There must be something in the letter – hand it over, James – _the whole thing, James_ – something to tell us the password..." Lily read the whole later and tried a few passwords. "Imperative? Albus? Percival? Wulfric? Brian? Dumbledore?"

"Lily, you're starting to get a bit – " James started, when he saw the gargoyle hadn't moved an inch.

But as usually, he was cut off by his fellow Head Girl, who was squinting through the letter desperately.

"CHOCOLATE FROGS!" Lily exclaimed happily, the letter now crumpling inside her hand.

As if on cue, the gargoyle started moving up, revealing the stairs up to Dumbledore's office. Lily beamed, whilst James simply looked away, apparently interested on the carvings in the ceiling of the castle. The girl grabbed him by the wrist and dragged him upstairs, until they reached the door that would lead to Dumbledore's office. Lily was about to knock the door when James stopped her.

"Wait, wait," he whispered. "It's only twenty past. We're not supposed to be here yet, remember? Dumbledore might be busy."

Lily nodded slowly, and resolved to take a seat on one of the stone steps the gargoyle had revealed to them only a few seconds ago. James sat next to her, leaning over the wooden door and closing his eyes. Every time he tried to doze off, Lily would smack his leg, which made him wake up, becoming groggier with every second that went by.

They were quickly disrupted, however, by a loud voice booming from Dumbledore's office.

"BUT THAT'S NOT POSSIBLE!"

James bolted up, startled. Lily looked up too, only to find him pressing his ear against the wooden door.

"James!" she whispered. "Don't do that! Eavesdropping is really rude – "

"Shh!" he hissed, trying to silence her.

Lily grunted, but sat up too and pressed her ear against the wooden door, glancing nervously towards James.

"Yes, Horace," they heard Dumbledore sighing. "The Tom you knew and helped..."

"But that's not possible!" exclaimed Slughorn angrily. "He was one golden boy, Prefect and Head Boy...helped the school when the Chamber of Secrets was opened...how is this possible?"

Lily's eyes widened at Slughorn's words. She gaped at James, who seemed to have turned as white as milk after listening to the two professors' discussion.

"Tom," she whispered, not listening to the conversation any more. "He must be Tom Riddle!"

"There must have been plenty of Toms in Hogwarts, Lils," he answered, for once not sounding all too convinced. "For all you know, they could be speaking about our friend, Tom Jones."

"Don't be ridiculous," Lily snapped. "Didn't you hear what Slughorn said? _Prefect and Head Boy_. Tom Riddle is the only Thomas I found at the Head Students section."

"How can you remember something like that?" asked James, annoyed.

But Lily didn't answer James's question. She pressed her ear against the door and tried to listen to the conversation, her frown deepening when she didn't hear anything. James looked at her for a few seconds, his jaw slightly dropped. As much as he liked Lily, he could not deny she went a bit paranoid over that Tom Riddle.

The two of them froze when they heard the door creaking open. Lily backed away just in time to find Slughorn gaping at the pair of them, now standing in front of their Potions professor with scarleted cheeks.

"Potter! Evans!" he exclaimed.

"Professor," both of them chorused, not daring to look at him straight in the eye.

"What are you two doing here?" asked Slughorn, alarmed.

James felt like when Sirius and him had been caught eavesdropping on McGonagall and Slughorn back in their third year, as the two professors decided the punishment for the two of them after they magically shaved a Slytherin sixth year bald. However, Slughorn now looked a million times angrier.

"They're here on my orders, Horace," said Dumbledore calmly. "I'm sure they've only just arrived, right?"

"We had a bit of trouble with figuring out the password," lied James quickly before Lily could open her mouth. "We had just walked up here when Professor Slughorn found us."

Dumbledore nodded, as if he were approving James's words. Something inside the boy's chest sighed with relief as the Headmaster stood up from behind his desk and walked over to the still panicking Slughorn.

"I shall escort Horace to his office," informed Dumbledore. "Please make yourselves comfortable until I am back."

James and Lily nodded nervously, stepping into the office as Dumbledore and Slughorn walked down the stairs calmly. The two Heads shared a worried glance before Lily set off to searching inside Dumbledore's office.

"Lily!" James asked with an outraged expression when he saw she was now opening a small cabinet in the very end of the room. "What do you think you're doing?" He saw the girl had stopped on her tracks and was now staring into the cabinet's content, making James frown worriedly. "What's the matter?"

Lily didn't answer, so James peered over her shoulder. He saw a small stone vase, which seemed to contain a substance that was not liquid nor gas, which floated around carelessly, although it never left its vase. The two of them stared at the contents of the cabinet, mystified, until James dared to poke the substance with his wand. Up came a small, silvery string, which would have been mistaken for a hair had it not carried a certainly mystifying gleam in its fibers.

"What _is_ this, anyway?" James asked, completely puzzled. He left the string back inside the cabinet, and cleaned the tip of his wand with his cloak just in case.

Lily leaned closer, feeling the dim light coming from the cabinet even closer than before. She could now see dozens of strings like the one James had pulled out were floating around in the strange substance. She stared at them, mystified, wishing she could know all the secrets the cabinet must have held.

Just as her nose touched the substance, she felt how something dragged her into the cabinet, off to somewhere she had never been before.


	10. The Pensieve

**Chapter Ten: The Pensieve**

...

It was a few seconds until Lily felt firm floor under her feet again. She was standing in the middle of the corridor which led to the dungeons, watching how groups of chattering students flew down the corridor on their way to Potions class or the Slytherin common room. To her side stood, to Lily's surprise, none other than Horace Slughorn, although he looked much younger: his hair was chestnut brown and his belly, although still prominent, wasn't as colossal as the present day Slughorn's. Lily gaped at him, wondering how on earth had she found what certainly seemed like Slughorn's younger self. Some of the students waved at him happily, others even stopped to talk to him.

"Morning, 'Fessor," said a boy from Gryffindor, barely able to hold a yawn.

"Nice to see you, Jones!" exclaimed Slughorn merrily. "Potions now, I assume?" The boy answered with a vague nod, to which Slughorn beamed. "Excellent! I'll see you there in fifteen minutes, then."

Jones muttered good-bye to Slughorn and set off with his friends. Lily made a quick mental note to ask either Tom or Hestia if they had had any relatives in the Slug Club, and then saw Slughorn was heading towards his office, a smile plastered on his face as students greeted him. Lily thought he hadn't seen her with all of the students walking up and down the corridor, and so she managed to slip into his office after him and smile politely at her teacher.

"Good morning – or evening, Professor Slughorn," she said politely. Slughorn, however, seemed to ignore Lily because he set off to his desk, smiling in what seemed a very nice mood.

Lily looked at him, confused, and waved a hand in front of him, "Hey, professor." Still no apparent reaction from Slughorn. "Professor Slughorn, I'm here." She waved her hand only a couple of inches away from Slughorn's face, and still he didn't blink once. "Hello!"

Lily looked around, exasperated. She resolved Slughorn might not be able to see her, because no one was _that_ good at ignoring people. For a second she considered being invisible, although she discarded this option when she found she could still see her whole body. She tried waving at Slughorn again, but nothing happened. She simply sighed and stood in a corner of the room, hoping something would happen and bring her back to Dumbledore's office, with James.

James. Now that she was very far away from him – not only in space, but in _time_ as well – she wondered what had happened. What had made her suddenly like him so much, anyway? Anyone could see he had grown up, but then again he still kept goofing around every now and then and even teased Lily once in a while. He had dropped asking her out three times a day, and now they spent most of the day together. She even _sat_ with him in Potions class, for Merlin's sake. Did she like him? Well, she liked him as a friend...it was all so confusing, Lily decided it would be best to drop it.

A few minutes later, Lily heard how someone knocked the door. Slughorn answered with a vague 'come in', and so a boy slid into Slughorn's office silently and looked at the professor with undoubtedly mock admiration. Lily studied him for a few moments. Jet black hair like James's, although this one was neatly combed and gelled – Lily couldn't help but think she found James's cuter – astonishing blue eyes, tall and lean, not muscular but not lanky, either. The boy looked quite fit, Lily had to admit.

"Oh, good morning, Tom," greeted Slughorn merrily as he shook Tom's hand. "Such a pleasure to have you here."

"It's my pleasure to come and visit, professor," assured Tom, taking a seat in front of him. "It's been such a long summer, with so many things to do..."

"Surely your time at the Muggle orphanage was nice, Tom?" Slughorn asked worriedly. Lily couldn't help but know he was one of the Slug Club's golden boys, just by the way Slughorn looked at him.

"I haven't spent much time in the orphanage this summer, sir," answered Tom truthfully. "I've been – traveling."

Slughorn nodded, "It's nice to leave the big city every now and then, isn't it Tom?" Tom nodded politely, and Slughorn smiled again. "But you're back at Hogwarts for your last year now. And Head Boy, for Merlin's sake! You do deserve it, Tom. Very well done."

Tom gave him an acknowledging nod as Lily's eyes fell on the small calendar resting on Slughorn's table. Since she was now sure neither of them could see her, she approached the calendar and read it carefully.

_September 1943_.

Lily felt as if someone had slapped her. September 1943! Only three months ago, perhaps less, the Riddles were murdered in Little Hangleton, and a few months before that the Chamber of Secrets had been opened...she saw a small, black ring glistening on Riddle's middle finger, and she stared at it, her brow furrowed. She was sure she had seen that ring somewhere –

"Well, I have something for you, Tom," said Slughorn, pulling out a bottle of butterbeer and two glasses, pouring some butterbeer for both of them. "To Tom Riddle, one of the greatest students this school has ever known!"

"To me," agreed Tom, with a fake smile on his face.

Lily's eyes widened. Now she wanted to stay and follow Tom around – see where he went, watch what he saw, learn what he read. She _needed_ to know. She felt sure she hadn't jumped into his name at the Trophy Room casually. She felt determined to know what was going on with that Tom Riddle, now more than ever.

However, she felt someone – or something – pulling her shoulder. They were dragging her away from Slughorn and Tom, who were now happily sipping their butterbeers and commenting things Lily could no longer hear – she _wanted_ to stay, she really wanted to – what was Tom saying? Would it help her find out who he was and if he had really murdered the Riddles her grandfather had known?

She felt her feet landing back in Dumbledore's office and only realized where she was when she smelled James's usual chocolate scent – the boy did seem to have a problem with chocolate – and a small scent of burnt hair.

Lily turned to look at James, and a second later she wrapped her arms around his neck and hugged him tightly.

"Oh, James," she whispered. "I didn't know where I was – I found Slughorn, but he didn't see me – then came Tom Riddle, it seems like Slughorn was his favourite professor or something – they talked – I found out I was on September 1943 – "

"I know, I know," James whispered soothingly, brushing the back of her head worriedly. "I didn't know what to do to bring you back. At first you wouldn't answer, and then your face sunk deeper – only when I pulled you a bit roughly you finally snapped out of it."

Lily nodded, still not letting go of James as he closed the cabinet's door. "What _is_ that anyway?" she asked.

"I dunno," he muttered. "It must be some time-traveling thingy. Although it only transports your mind to the past...or who knows, perhaps the future if you try?"

Lily nodded. She clung onto a rather awkward-looking James for a few seconds, until she heard the door creaking over and turned to find Dumbledore entering the office with a pleased smile on his face. He looked up at the Head Students and his face went stiff again.

"I'm sorry for being late," he said apologetically to both of them. "But Horace insisted on giving a small toast to our friendship before I left, you see. Anyway – "

Dumbledore trailed off to explaining their expanded shift hours, and how they should communicate this to the Prefects as soon as possible. For once, Lily didn't pay much attention to their Headmaster. Her head was somewhere else, still dwelling over Tom Riddle's words and feeling as confused as ever.

...

**A/N**: Wow, short chapter there. I didn't quite know what to write to make it longer, so you'll have to deal with it. I promise next chapter will be much longer :) Until then, please do review!

Eleanor x


	11. Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff

**Chapter Eleven: Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff**

...

The weekend following James and Lily's discovery of Dumbledore's Pensieve was the start of the Quidditch season, with the Gryffindor vs. Hufflepuff match. Of course, Faust Macmillan's team was nothing compared to James's, but still he had scheduled many trainings for the team, including its newest members – Kevin Swamp, a sixth-year Beater and Nick Samson, a second year Keeper who seemed like a natural on his broom despite being Muggle-born.

The whole team was gathered up in the very end of the Gryffindor table, discussing tactics and glancing at the Hufflepuffs from time to time. Lily was having breakfast with Sirius, Remus, Peter, Tom, Mary and Sophie, peering at their friends from time to time.

"Merlin's pants, James is such a Quidditch nazi," murmured Mary. "See that little Samson boy? He looks exhausted, the poor thing."

"And that Swamp bloke, Prongs told me about him," snickered Sirius. "I'm sure he's not as good as everyone says."

"You're just jealous because you fell asleep on the trial day and you couldn't get into the team," retorted Remus. "_Again_."

"It was my youth dream," sighed Sirius a bit too dramatically. "The only thing I've longed to do ever since I was born, the goal of my life, the whole point of my existence – "

"I thought the whole point of your existence was annoying the living guts out of everyone around you, Sirius?" bickered Lily, a smirk on her face.

Everyone in the group but Sirius laughed loudly. They were soon joined by Emmeline and Hestia, who were now whooping loudly for the Gryffindor Quidditch team. The whole Great Hall seemed to have split up: Gryffindors roared loudly for their team and cheered them happily, whilst Hufflepuffs did the same with their team. Slytherins were mostly cheering Hufflepuff, given their House enmities with the Gryffindors. Ravenclaws mostly supported Gryffindor, but there were some of them rooting for Hufflepuff too. Although the yellow and black House was usually last or second-to-last in the House Cup and Quidditch Tournament, most Hufflepuffs were really nice people, so it made up for the lack of prizes and cups in their common room.

When breakfast was over, practically the whole school streamed out to the grounds on their way to the Quidditch pitch. The two teams had left earlier in order to get themselves prepared, so Lily walked down to the Quidditch stadium with Mary, Remus, Sirius and Hestia, Peter and Emmeline having walked ahead to try and sneak into the changing rooms in order to give the Gryffindor players their most truthful support. Tom and Sophie were nowhere to be seen, but Hestia vaguely snorted at Lily's remark of their absence and commented they might as well be snogging in a broom closet.

They reached the Quidditch pitch and quickly filed into the stands, everyone standing up expectantly in order to be the first ones to see the Quidditch players walking into the pitch. The ten Gryffindor first years stood in front of Lily excitedly, whispering nervously.

"My big sister's our Seeker," explained Simon McKinnon proudly.

Two or three kids gaped at him.

"That's not possible!" exclaimed one of the girl, whose name was Monica Spencer as far as Lily could remember. "Is she?"

Simon nodded proudly and added, "Of course, this is her last year at Hogwarts, but she's told me I'll make a brilliant replacement next year. You'll see, I will kill it in the tryouts!"

Lily smiled at Simon's not-so-humble words, which vaguely reminded her of James when they were Simon's age. She turned back at Mary and nudged her softly, discretely pointing at the eleven-year-olds who were now discussing about the Hufflepuff team. Mary grinned at the sight of one of the girls sticking out her lower lip at a boy, who laughed happily and gave her a hug.

The first years fell silent when they saw seven tiny dots in the distance walking out of the changing rooms. In the front came James Potter, Quidditch captain, and to each of his sides were Dorcas and Marlene. Behind the three of them came Rick McLaggen, Miri Paulsen, Kevin Swamp and Nick Samson, the last one staring around at the huge Quidditch pitch with fear and excitement mixing in his face.

They were soon followed by the Hufflepuffs, coming out from the other side of the pitch. The captain, Faust Macmillan, was looking at James rather pompously, followed by his worried-looking teammates. From the stands, everyone saw Macmillan and Potter shake hands politely, and then the microphone was switched on for the commentator, Jeremy Jordan, a Gryffindor fourth year with dark skin and a loud, cheery voice.

"Welcome to the first match of the season!" Jeremy welcomed everyone in the stands. All of the spectators cheered loudly. "Today's match will be Gryffindor versus Hufflepuff! Of course, having studied the team's members I should say Gryffindor has a _clear_ advantage over Hufflepuff – "

"JORDAN!" exclaimed a voice next to the commentator, which everyone recognized as McGonagall's.

"Sorry, 'Fessor," replied Jeremy a bit too cheekily. "Anyway, there's Mrs Hooch releasing the Quaffle – the Chasers mount their broomsticks, as do the Keepers – and off we go with the first Quidditch match of the season!"

Lily looked up and found Nick Samson was flying around the rings carefully. Dorcas had been the first one to catch the Quaffle, and she was now soaring past one of the Hufflepuff chasers on her way to the Keeper. She was blocked by a second Keeper and tossed the Quaffle at Miri Paulsen, who flew up and did a swift dive a while later, catching the Keeper unnoticed and scoring the first ten points for Gryffindor.

"TEN VERY WELL DESERVED POINTS FOR GRYFFINDOR!" roared Jeremy happily.

The left side of the Quidditch stadium roared with happiness. Lily looked up at Marlene, who was flying around the pitch, apparently still not having a clue of where the Snitch was.

Minutes flew by and soon Gryffindor found they had a clear advantage over Hufflepuff. Both of the Gryffindor Beaters, McLaggen and Swamp, were fairly good, and Nick Samson was brilliant, to say the least. They were winning a hundred and thirty to forty, and still neither Seekers had seen a glimpse of the Golden Snitch. Adrian Doherty, a fourth year who was the Hufflepuff Chaser, was soaring up and down the pitch in search of the Snitch, whilst Marlene flew around patiently, knowing she would get tired if she imitated Doherty's moves.

"I just hope Doherty doesn't see it," sighed Remus. "He's a fairly good Seeker, and he has a Nimbus 1990."

"Wow, Moony, I never realized you knew anything about Quidditch," said Sirius, still not getting his eyes off Marlene. "I wonder what's keeping her from seeing the Snitch."

Lily glanced at the boy, who was still staring up at Marlene. When the girl looked down at them from many feet above, Sirius was the first one to wave back at her, quickly followed by Mary and Lily. The two girls couldn't help but think perhaps Sirius _did _fancy Marlene, only just a teensy little bit.

Lily frowned. It didn't please her to think Sirius might use Marlene as a weekly fling, knowing how much did her best friend like him. She glanced at Sirius from the corner of her eye, and made a mental note to have a talk with him after the match was over.

Another good twenty minutes went by, and the score had now risen dramatically for Gryffindor, winning two hundred to fifty. Hufflepuff had never been good at Quidditch, but they had never been _that _bad. Faust Macmillan, who was one of the Chaser, clutched the Quaffle onto his chest desperately, and almost everyone on the left side of the stadium burst out in laughter when he dropped it as a very well sent Bludger from Kevin Swamp hit his broomstick. James quickly picked it up, and soared up to the rings, scoring the twenty-first Gryffindor goal in that match.

However, everyone's eyes quickly switched to Adrian Doherty, who was now diving down to a couple of feet from the ground. Everyone gasped – he had most likely seen the Snitch, which made all of the Hufflepuffs' chests fill with hope. Marlene, however, had made a good use of her reflexes, and was now diving after him, only a foot away from the Hufflepuff Seeker. They were both at the same height now, each of them stretching out an arm. The whole stadium had fallen silent, waiting for either of them to catch the Snitch in any second.

However, a second later, the two Seekers fell to the ground, surrounded by a cloud of dust and earth.

"What's happened?" asked Mary worriedly, looking down at the pitch.

"I dunno," answered Sirius, equally worried. "I hope Marlene is OK."

The other twelve players had left their spots and were now flying down to the ground. Faust Macmillan and James were both wearing concerned looks for their Seekers, whilst Dorcas simply soared past them and reached ground the first. She tried to help Marlene up, but instead her friend shook her off, standing up by herself.

The gleam of the Golden Snitch in her hand was visible from every corner of the Quidditch stadium.

Everyone burst out in happy roars as Marlene helped Adrian Doherty up and shook hands with him. The Gryffindor team was now jumping up and down the pitch happily, their fellow House mates roaring gleefully from the stands. Most of the Slytherins and Hufflepuffs quickly filed out of the stadium, soon followed by the Hufflepuff team after Faust Macmillan gave James a rather pompous congratulation for the well-played match.

Down in the pitch, the seven players still celebrated happily. James had heaved Nick Samson – who was a fairly small boy, compared to James's eight-feet height – onto his back and was carrying him around happily, which made Lily smile. Dorcas and Marlene hugged each other, whilst Kevin Swamp, Miri Paulsen and Rick McLaggen high-fived each other pleasantly, congratulating each other for the well-done job.

As soon as the Quidditch stadium was emptied, the party was taken up to the Gryffindor common room. James and Sirius brought Butterbeer from the kitchens and everyone was standing around happily, commenting the match with still dazed expressions. McLaggen was sitting with three girls from his year around him, whilst Dorcas and Miri were talking to some first-year children who had told them they wanted to try out for the team next year. Kevin Swamp and Emmeline were sitting on a corner of the common room, sucking faces as Hestia had called it with a rather smug expression. Nick Samson was being congratulated by most of the Gryffindors, whilst his friends stared at him admiringly while a couple of girls in his year smiled at him with a bit too cheesy expressions.

James had only managed to get rid of a group of fifth year girls who were trying to chuck a piece of cake into his mouth, which James had quickly assumed to contain a love potion. To his pleasure, he found Lily, Sirius and Marlene sitting together, commenting how brilliant the match had been.

"Prongs scored some awesome goals," said Sirius with an acknowledging nod towards James. "He's one brilliant Chaser, I tell you."

"He is," remarked Lily with a smile.

James grinned, taking a seat between Marlene and her. Then, he looked at Lily.

"How did you like the match, Lils?" he asked.

"It was brilliant," the girl answered brightly, beaming at him. "You're the best team in the school."

"You used to say you liked the Ravenclaw team better last year," Marlene snorted. "Just because James – "

Lily blushed, cutting Marlene off, "Never you mind that. Thing is, you guys were brilliant today. I think you might as well win the Quidditch Cup again!"

James grinned, "Sure thing, Lils."

The two of them glanced at each other for a couple of seconds, before turning back to their Butterbeers when they heard Sirius crying, "Oi! Earth to lovebirds Prongs and Lily Flower!"

Lily rolled her eyes, whilst James smacked the back of Sirius's head. However, James felt like soaring when his eyes met Lily's and the girl smiled at him.

One of her smiles felt better than all the Quidditch Cups in the world.


	12. A Sluggish Question

**Chapter Twelve: A Sluggish Question**

...

The rest of the weekend flew by and, to James's relief, Lily seemed to have dropped the whole Tom Riddle subject. True, he couldn't help but wonder himself who had that bloke been and if he had something to do with Tom Riddle from Little Hangleton – but he felt glad Lily was back to her normal self.

This, however, didn't last long. As Monday arrived, the Gryffindors found themselves walking out of the Charms classroom, chatting happily as always. Next period was Muggle Studies for Remus and Dorcas, and free period for Sirius and Peter. The other six Gryffindors made their way down to the dungeons together, as every other Monday – but just as she was about to step onto the staircase, Lily stopped on her tracks.

"James," she called him. "Remember what I told you about Riddle?"

James frowned at her, "Yeah, kind of. You said Riddle wore a ring you had seen somewhere, that he said he'd been traveling for the whole summer..." James's eyes widened as he realized what Lily meant. "Oh, no. Not Slughorn."

"Yes. Yes Slughorn," snapped Lily. "We have to ask him about Riddle, he was in the Slug Club and Slughorn was really fond of him. He must know something – "

"Lily, you're starting to get _obsessed_ over this Tom Riddle bloke," said James prudently. "I think we should drop itfor now, you know."

Lily looked at him with an exasperated expression. "But James, don't you _wonder_? Don't you wonder if this Tom Riddle boy actually _murdered_ someone?"

"Of course I wonder!" James protested indignantly. "But it's not like our lives depend on discovering who this Tom Riddle bloke is, anyway. He isn't going to come and kill us too, even if he did kill his Dad."

Lily shook her head, "You don't understand."

She hurried after the rest of the Gryffindors, determined to find out about that Riddle boy. How couldn't James understand? She _needed _to know. She didn't know why, but she had a feeling that Tom Riddle had been the one who murdered the Riddles from Little Hangleton – and somehow knew something strange linked him to things Lily didn't like very much.

James managed to catch up with her when they reached the dungeon. Grudgingly, Lily took a seat next to him in the back of the classroom as the rest of the students started pulling out their cauldrons and ingredients. She didn't speak to him over the lesson, not even when Slughorn announced that they would work in pairs for that lesson. She worked silently, wondering if she should go and talk to Slughorn when the lesson was over. James felt worried, but didn't say anything. He had been thinking of something for a while, but he thought it wouldn't help in Lily's mood, so he decided to stay quiet.

To Lily's surprise, James scurried out of the classroom right after Slughorn dismissed them, an hour later. When she had asked him where he was going, his answer had most startled her.

"To the library," he had murmured as he picked up his cauldron and hurried out of the dungeon.

Lily stood there, cleaning up a bit too slowly. Most of her classmates were done and a fair amount of them had already left, either to their next lesson or to a well-deserved free period. Only when she started packing her Albanian garlic did she realize Marlene and Mary were standing in the door, waiting for her.

"Aren't you coming?" called Marlene.

"You get going," she answered. "I'll be in the common room in no time."

Mary and Marlene exchanged confused glances, but finally set off to the Gryffindor common room. To Lily's pleasure, she found Slughorn neatly stacking some third years' essays when she finished cleaning up.

"Um, professor," she called him politely.

Slughorn turned to her with a most delighted expression, not unlike the one he had showed when he had seen Tom Riddle. Lily shuddered at the thought.

"Yes, Lily?" he asked merrily. "Anything the matter?"

"Actually yes, sir," said Lily politely. He tried to give Slughorn one of Tom's charming smiles, but instead ended up doing something like a grimace. "I was wondering – do you know an old student from this school named Tom Riddle? He was a Slytherin, Head Boy and Prefect I think – "

Lily stopped when she saw the smug expression that had settled on Slughorn's face. The man was now frowning at her, the delighted smile nowhere to be found. Lily thought of backing away and saying goodbye, but somehow she stayed rooted to the spot, looking at Slughorn cautiously.

"And why would you want to know about Tom Riddle?" he asked a bit too harshly, not blinking once. "As far as I'm concerned, that boy left this school on 1944. I do not know where he went afterwards."

"No, but sir," she insisted cautiously. "I just stumbled upon his name in the Trophy Room. He was awarded a Special Services Trophy in 1943...I just wanted to know what did he do to earn such a valuable award, sir."

Slughorn was still frowned, but somehow his expression seemed to have relaxed a little.

"Oh, that," he answered a bit stiffly. "Well, I daresay he did a great good to this school when the Chamber of Secrets was opened that year – you surely know what the Chamber of Secrets is, don't you?" Lily nodded hastily, she had read something about it in _Hogwarts, A History_. "But no-one knows exactly what he did. Aside from that, he was a brilliant student, top of his year – and quite the charmer, may I say."

Lily nodded quickly, "Thanks, sir. I was also wondering – I read somewhere he used to wear a black, rhomboid-like ring all the time – do you know anything about it?"

Slughorn still eyed her suspiciously, but merely nodded, "I suspect it was a family heirloom of some sort." He glared towards Lily a bit too harshly and then added, hastily packing up his things, "I'm really sorry Evans, but I have to go now. I'll – I'll see you at class tomorrow."

"All right, professor," mused Lily as Slughorn flew past her on his way to his office.

She looked around the empty dungeon, pondering what Slughorn had just said. _The ring was a family heirloom of some sort_. _He had helped in something involving the Chamber of Secrets_. What was up with that Tom Riddle?_  
_

She finally resolved answers wouldn't come to her if she stayed still in the dungeon for another hour, so she decided to go up to the Heads Dorm and try to figure something out over there. As she hurried through the corridors, she saw students of all ages chatting animatedly about things Lily didn't care about, although she wasn't listening. Her mind was reeling, racking her brain as she tried to figure out where the heck had she seen that ring before.

As she mumbled the password, 'Draco Dormiens' to the portrait in the hole of the Heads Dorm, she wondered if James was inside, lounging around as usually. However, she was most shocked – and pleased, although confused – when she found him sitting in a desk, poring over a book he held in his hands. She thought she had never seen him focusing on anything like this before, not even Quidditch. She looked at him with something like a smirk on her face.

"James Potter, reading a book?" she asked. "Merlin's pants, I must have gone nutters."

James looked at him with a most surprised expression, which was quickly replaced by a grin.

"Lily!" he exclaimed happily, ignoring her last comment. "I think I've found it! Both of them!"

Lily frowned at him, confused by James's words, but approached him nevertheless. He was holding a book in her hands, which looked a bit old with a neon orange cover with four pictures in the front and the shrilly title, _Gryffindor, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw and Slytherin – Founders or Fools? _Under the title she read: _An abridged novel by Philomena Skeeter, bestselling author of _The Prophet.

"What're you doing reading that rubbish?" she asked, peering over his shoulder.

"I went to the library and took this," he explained quickly. "I thought I knew where I had seen the ring you'd described – you see, Padfoot and I took this book one day while Moony finished his homework and I only realized I had seen it there when I read an article signed by Skeeter in the _Prophet_ this morning. I thought I'd tell you, but seeing how you'd answer – " Lily looked at him in mock anger and placed her hands on her hips, but James started talking again. "Anyway, I think I've found the ring. Did you see something like this, Lils?"

He pointed at an old photograph of a black, rhomboid-like stone encrusted onto a thin silver ring. Lily nodded excitedly, and James pleasantly pointed at the capture under the old photograph.

_Slytherin's ring, a family heirloom that passed from him to new generations of Slytherins over the centuries. Its last known owner, Morfin Gaunt, died in 1943. The ring's whereabouts are currently unknown._

"Read the text next to it," James urged her, proud visible on his face.

He didn't need to tell Lily twice. The girl picked up the book and read the paragraph on the page to the left of the picture.

_" 'Salazar Slytherin was the only member of the Founders who was known to give birth to a child, founding one of the many extinguished Wizarding families, the Slytherins. However, one of Slytherin's unidentified descendants adopted the surname of Gaunt when she married a man from this pure-blood family in the mid-fifteenth century. The Gaunts are nowadays known to be the only descendants of Slytherin alive – that is, if any Gaunt still lives. The Head of the family, Marvolo Gaunt, was found dead in the early summer of 1932, whilst his daughter Morfin was arrested after the murder of three Muggles in 1943, and died in Azkaban two years later. His only known daughter, Merope, went on the run with a Muggle man in the late twenties and her whereabouts are currently unknown.' "_

As Lily closed the book, a whirl of emotions rushed around her body frantically. For one, she now knew Tom Riddle must have been related to both the Riddles and the Gaunts – making him the Half-blood, only heir of Salazar Slytherin. In the other hand, she felt confused now that she knew his uncle Morfin had been the one to murder the Riddles, and not Tom. Why had he done it? Perhaps he found out about his sister and Tom Riddle Sr.'s affair when he met Tom Riddle Junior, and the boy had coaxed him into murdering the three Riddles –

"Oh James, you're wonderful!" she exclaimed happily, her arms flinging around his neck and hugging him tightly. The boy was surprised but pleased by her sudden outburst of joy, and hugged her in return.

"Hold on," he said after a couple of minutes. "I also found out about that thing in Dumbledore's office," he pointed at the thick book that was closed next to him and Lily saw that, to her surprise, it was _Hogwarts, A History_.

"You've _read_ all that just for me?" she asked, beaming.

"Only the bit concerning the Headmaster's office," James admitted. "Well, do you want to know about that thing?"

Lily nodded quickly, "Sure. What is it?"

"A Pensieve," answered James. When he saw Lily's puzzled expression, he added, "It's a kind of vase in which you can release memories and watch them at your own will. Let's say, for example, that you want to see your fifth birthday party, because you can't really remember it. Well, the only thing you'd have to do is get that memory out of your head – with your wand, of course – and place it in the Pensieve, which would kind of transport you into the memory to be visualized at will."

Lily gaped at James. "So – so what I saw was all Slughorn's memory?" she asked, shocked.

James nodded at once. Lily could barely hold her excitement, so she involuntarily planted a kiss on his cheek and hugged him tightly again.

"You're wonderful, James Charlus Potter," she stated, not letting go of him.

James grinned, hugging her back and enjoying the scent of her hair against his nose. If finding out about a Pensieve and the Gaunts gave Lily such a pleasant mood, what would she do if James discovered something more important about Riddle?

Perhaps, James thought, he should go to the library more often.

...

**A/N**: So there you go, another bit of the puzzle solved for James and Lily. I hope you liked this chapter, if you did – or did not – please review! Next chapter will be up soon. :)

Eleanor x


	13. The Lion and The Snake

**Chapter Thirteen: The Snake and The Lion**

...

The rest of the week flew by and soon the Hogwarts students found themselves stuck in mid-October, only a week away from the Hallowe'en feast everyone was looking forward to. Leaves were already falling from the trees, and a chill had settled upon the highlands, firing warm weather until early April. Despite the bad weather, most of the students still went outside after their lessons, and the Marauders and their friends were not an exception.

After a particularly hard Transfiguration lesson in which McGonagall had tried to make them perform a full-body transfiguration into monkeys ("Not that some people here need to Transfigure to look like monkeys anyway," the professor had added.) and still some students sported unnecessary facial hair or oddly long arms. Just as they reached the lake, Remus tried fixing Peter's hairy face, whilst James and Sirius bickered at each other because the latter had taken James's wand after he had finished transfiguring himself and had refused to give it back until the end of the lesson, now insisting he had been overtaken by his primate instincts.

"But how could have your primate instincts taken over if you were still a human inside?" insisted James, rolling his eyes.

"I have to admit something to all of you," said Sirius dramatically. "I was bit by a wild monkey when I was a child. That's why my primate instincts took over me today."

"Oh, but that's not new," answered Lily, shrugging. "We all knew you had to be half-monkey or something to be this stupid."

Everyone but Sirius – who was starting to get tired of Lily's fairly good comebacks – laughed happily, as the eight of them settled down, their backs leaning onto the tree. For once, it wasn't Mary who talked to Remus, but Dorcas – the two of them had grown closer when Dorcas was appointed to do shifts with Remus, since he was still a Prefect and Lily was now patrolling with James. Marlene was chatting animatedly with Mary about the good looks of Professor Drajman, to which Sirius twitched from time to time as he and Peter talked about the Quidditch team they both supported, the Puddlemere United.

James and Lily had both moved up tho the lakeshore, taken of their shoes and sat down with their feet inside the cold water. They hadn't talked much about Riddle after the afternoon in which James had found out about the ring and the Pensieve, which pleased James to no end. He and Lily were now closer than ever, and he was glad he could talk to her about something aside Tom Riddle and the murder of his hypothetical father.

" – and so Parkinson just stared at me, and she said, '_No one asked your opinion, you filthy little Mudblood_'," Lily said, telling James about an encounter she had had a while ago with one of the most annoying girls in their year, Eloise Parkinson.

"They're all gits," mumbled James angrily. "I see that Parkinson girl and I'll – "

"Surely you wouldn't hit a girl, James?" Lily asked suspiciously, raising her eyebrows.

"Of course not," James replied indignantly. "But I can very well hit that git of a boyfriend she has."

Lily beamed at him and elbowed him jokingly, "I'm sure he'd hex you in no time. Everyone knows they're all a bunch of Junior Death Eaters."

"Please," James scoffed. "I thought you knew better of me. Every hex they might have learned this year, I know them since I was twelve."

Lily smiled. Two months ago, she would have found this comment annoying and most likely would tell James he was just a conceited git, but the truth was that she actually enjoyed it. Being truthful, she now enjoyed almost everything about James – the way he smiled whenever their eyes met, how he would blush awkwardly whenever she hugged him, his scent to newly polished broomstick...

She wasn't even shocked when she found herself wondering how would his lips taste. Something sweet, like chocolate. She knew James was really fond of chocolate. Or perhaps treacle tart, which was his favourite dessert. Or maybe raspberries –

"Lily?" James called her softly. Only then did she realize she had been staring at him for a few minutes. "Anything the matter?"

She blushed madly, looking away hastily. But just as James looked back into the lake, whistling a nice-sounding Wizarding song, Lily smiled. She loved every single detail about him, she most definitely did.

Had Lily Evans fallen for her old enemy?

...

A couple of hours later, when dinnertime came, everyone went back to the Great Hall. Lily, however, said she wanted to go leave her books at the Heads Dorm first, soon followed by James and Sirius, the latter stating he was only going with them to make sure they didn't waste time on snogging in a broom closet on their way to the Heads Dorm. As the three of them made their way to the Heads Dorm, they commented about McGonagall – whom Sirius had fondly nicknamed as 'Minnie' on their first year at Hogwarts – until they found themselves entering the fourth floor, where a group of Slytherins were huddled together, muttering something they couldn't hear.

They almost instantly recognized all of the Slytherins standing in front of them. One of them was Reinhard Lestrange, the third and youngest of the Lestrange brothers, who was a seventh year too. To his side stood Tenebris Mulciber, brandishing his wand coolly, and to the other one Tobias Avery and Snape, still talking in urgent whispers. Finally, to the far right, was standing quietly Regulus Black, whose eyes had widened at the sight of his older brother.

"Oi, Reg!" called Sirius cheekily, ignoring the menacing glares of the other four boys. "How's our dear mother doing? Is she yelling as always, or has she finally gone mute?"

Regulus seemed to twitch oddly at his brothers comment, but merely mumbled, "She's no mother of yours. You left us, you left your own family just to stay with this – " he glanced scathingly at Lily. "_Filth_."

James was already pulling out his wand, but Sirius stooped him, smiling coolly at his brother.

"Such a shame," he commented loudly. "I daresay, being Muggle-born doesn't make you filth, not at all," Mulciber snorted loudly at this, whilst Lestrange merely shook his head disapprovingly. "What makes you real, rotten filth, is mixing with these classy, stupid arseholes you call your friends."

Mulciber pointed at Sirius with his wand, but Sirius did a vague movement of his own wand and sent Mulciber petrified to the floor. Regulus had also pulled out his wand, but Sirius only did a loud sigh and rolled his eyes.

"Do I _really_ have to stupefy my own brother, Reg?" he asked, with a rather bored tone. Regulus clutched his wand, but didn't move. "I thought so."

In that moment, Avery pulled out his wand and yelled at Sirius, "Crucio!"

Sirius fell to his knees, gasping for breath. Lily stared, her eyes wide in pure shock, while James pulled out his wand and sent a jet of red light, which stupefied Avery and sent him flying down the stairs. Lestrange had pulled out his wand too, and pointed at James, repeating Avery's spell. "Crucio!"

James fell to his knees. Lily's eyes darted from James, who was now twitching for breath, and Sirius, who was panting heavily in the floor, and without hesitating she pulled out her wand and yelled at Lestrange, "Stupefy!"

Lestrange was also sent flying down the stairs. Lily looked at Regulus, who was still clutching his wand and staring at her. Snape was standing to his side, his eyes wide and looking as worried as ever. She then saw Regulus raising his wand at her, pointing straight into her chest –

"Stupefy!"

James had sent a jet of red light towards Regulus and knocked him down in no time. He was still lying on the floor, panting for breath, but he clutched his wand tightly. Then, he turned his eyes towards Snape, who was standing still in front of them and gave the Slytherin the dirtiest look Lily had ever seen cross his face.

"Don't you dare try and hurt her, you git!" James roared. "I'll kill you!"

Snape's eyes darted towards Sirius, who was now standing up and pointing at him too, and then at James, who was clutching his wand and standing on his fours. Lily just stood there, pleading him not to hurt them with her eyes. Snape gave them one last scathing look before hurrying to see where had Avery, Lestrange and Regulus landed. Sirius had now stood up, while Lily lowered down to James, who was still standing on his fours.

"Does it hurt?" she asked quietly, caressing his cheek slowly.

"Not anymore, really," he whispered, standing up with Lily's help. When he was standing completely, Lily flung her arms around him and, without thinking it twice, did something that would change her whole life in a matter of seconds.

She kissed James.

Of course, she pulled away in a matter of seconds. She turned bright red, and looked away. James stood there, rooted to the spot, feeling how heat rose up to his face. He stared at Lily, who refused to look back at him.

"Oh Merlin," she whispered then. "James – I'm so sorry – "

"It's all right," he answered awkwardly. "Don't worry – can happen – you were just excited – "

But Lily still wouldn't look at him. They stood in silence for a few seconds, James gazing intently at Lily and the girl refusing to look at him in the eye.

"Well, this is awkward," muttered Sirius a few seconds later.

Both of them looked at him and gave Sirius awkward chuckles. Then Lily finally dared to look at James in the eye again and mumbled, "I think we should get to the Great Hall. I reckon dinner's almost over."

"Yeah," James mused in agreement. "Let's go."

The three of them walked down to the Great Hall in an awkward silence none of them dared to break. Sirius glanced at them from time to time, but said nothing. Lily was burning holes on her shoes, not daring to look up, while James still walked next to her a bit awkwardly.

Still, he couldn't hold a grin when he thought Lily had actually _kissed_ him.

...

**A/N**: Being stuck in Norfolk at my cousins' really _is_ boring. So there you go, another chapter from yours truly written as I waited for everyone else to get up. I had a bit of a bad night, so I stayed up most of the time and wrote this and the following chapter, which I shall post either tomorrow or on Tuesday._  
_

Anyways, about the chapter: Ooh, there's some tension in the air. Anyways, hope you liked the chapter! It shall get real fluffy soon. :)

Eleanor x


	14. Shiver

**Chapter Fourteen: Shiver**

...

_Did you want me to change? Well, I changed for good._

...

As the rest of the week passed by, neither James nor Lily mentioned the duel with the Slytherins again, much less did they tell any of their friends about their kiss. Only Sirius knew about this, and he had surprised both of them by not saying a word to the rest of their friends. They had started acting a bit more awkward towards each other, especially Lily. She didn't talk to James as much as she did before, and tried to escape from him during meals. She barely stayed in the Heads Dorm any more, fearing the moment they would be together by themselves again. She had told her friends it was just because she wanted to spend more time with her friends, and James had done the same. But of course, the three Marauders and Lily's friends didn't believe a word.

"D'you reckon they're going out together?" Mary asked Remus as they walked down to the lake after Defence Against the Dark Arts on the following Thursday.

"Nah, they would have told us," said Remus dismissively. Then, he let out a soft laugh, "But I'll give them a week until something happens between them."

Mary chuckled in agreement. "And to think Lily despised James only two months ago," she laughed.

"Of course, Lily Flower would never be able to resist Prongs's charms." They both turned around to find Sirius smirking at them.

"But I do have to admit," he continued, slipping between Mary and Remus and wrapping an arm around each pair of shoulders. "After Prongs and Lily Flower, you two are the sappiest couple around."

Remus and Mary both blushed deeply, although they said nothing. Sirius laughed heartily, and punched Remus's elbow friendly.

"Asking a girl out isn't impossible, you know," he chuckled. "You could try it someday, Moony. Perhaps Miss MacDonald here could be a nice choice?"

"That'd be lovely!" Marlene chimed in, grinning at both of them.

"Only when you and Sirius get together," mumbled Mary.

Both Sirius and Marlene looked at each other with timid smiles, but seemed to take Mary's comment a lot better than she and Remus.

"Anyway, where are the others?" asked Mary after as they entered the Entrance Hall on their way to the grounds.

"Let's see," said Marlene, pulling up her ten fingers. "There's four of us here," she closed four of the fingers in her left hand. "Peter has stayed behind to ask something to Professor Drajman," she closed her left hand completely. "Tom and Sophie went to the library to finish something for Arithmancy," she closed two more fingers.

"And Dorcas is right here!" called a voice behind them, slipping between Sirius and Mary.

"And where are James and Lily, anyway?" asked Remus.

"They had a meeting with the other Prefects, so they missed part of the lesson," explained Dorcas. "I guess they'll be back in no time."

When they reached the lake, Remus and Sirius sat down, leaning onto a small willow while the three girls took their shoes off and let their feet sink into the cold water of the lake, chatting happily about nothing in particular. Remus pulled out a book and started reading it, his eyes lifting towards the girls from time to time. Sirius stared at the lake absentmindedly, playing with some grass in his hands.

After a few minutes, they both saw two figures walking towards them. One of them, the boy, had messy black hair and the other, the girl, had long dark red hair. Their silence turned into awkward hellos when they sat down next to Sirius.

"Hello, Prongsies," said Sirius happily. "And Lily Flower too, of course. How was that meeting?"

"Hm, not bad," said James with a pleased smile. "We just had to check all prefects are doing their shifts and tell them about the uses of punishments and such."

"Oh, Prongs!" said Sirius dramatically. "You're _punishing_ people? Who are you and what have you done to my poor friend Prongsies?"

James and Lily both laughed. Sirius pretended to look away indignantly, his eyes fixing on the three girls who were still chatting by the lake. They didn't seem to have noticed James and Lily's presence, because Dorcas was still talking about some Ravenclaw boy she found terribly cute.

A few minutes later, Mary took her feet out of the water and shuffled back to the willow tree, where she sat next to Lily. James was now asking Remus about the next full moon. He wanted some adventure back in their everyday lives, but then Remus reminded him that it had been full moon only a week ago, so James was disappointed to know it was almost a month until his friend's next transfiguration.

Sirius felt bored out of his wits. He looked around for someone to talk to, but Remus and James seemed to be tracing out some sort of sketch of a map through the passageways of the Whomping Willow, whilst Lily and Mary were now talking in barely audible whispers, their eyes darting to Remus every now and then and quickly followed by a fit of girlish giggles. Sirius rolled his eyes and looked at Dorcas and Marlene, who were now splashing water at each other, and a small lightbulb seemed to light up in his head.

Sirius stood up and tiptoed to the two girls sitting by the lakeside. Neither of them seemed to notice his presence until it was too late.

"Marlene – !" started Dorcas as Sirius wrapped his arms around the girl's waist and pulled her into the water.

It was too late anyway, the two of them had jumped into the water with a loud _splash!_ followed by Marlene's shrieks. All of the Gryffindors looked up at them quickly, Dorcas now laughing almost hysterically and Lily and Mary breaking into the loudest fit of giggles the boys had ever heard. After a few seconds, both Sirius and Marlene made it back to the surface, where the girl started screaming at him.

"YOU – !" yelled Marlene. "HOW DID IT OCCUR TO YOU – YOU NASTY LITTLE MISFIT – !"

"Chill, Marlie," laughed Sirius. "Water's all right, ain't it?"

Marlene seemed to fumble for a few seconds, but after that her expression broke into a grin.

"You're going to pay for this, Sirius Black," she whispered dramatically.

Before Sirius's reflexes had time to work, Marlene drowned him into the cold waters of the lake, from which Sirius emerged a few seconds later, choking and almost trembling.

"Oi!" he cried. "How come that?"

"Sweet, sweet revenge," muttered Marlene, grinning broadly.

"I'm going to get you, McKinnon!" Sirius roared happily, swimming towards the girl.

"Oh, catch me if you can!" laughed Marlene, swimming forward.

The other five Gryffindors watched the two of them chasing each other from the lakeside with greatly amused expressions, and laughing every time either of them managed to drown the other.

"Those two are off their minds," commented Remus, shaking his head as Sirius drowned for about the sixth time.

"Yes, they are," agreed Lily. "But you know we love them this way."

...

After a couple of hours sitting by the lake, the seven of them walked back to the Great Hall to have dinner, and after that Remus and Mary went to look up some information for their Ancient Runes essay. Sirius, Marlene and Dorcas were invited over to the Heads Dorm, where the threesome played Exploding Snap on the floor while the two Heads sat down in the sofa, Lily reading quietly and James looking at the crackling fire.

He once again wondered if he should tell Lily about how he felt. True, that kiss had been the most awkward – yet happiest – moment of his life, but he now felt his feelings towards her were strengthening with every second that passed by. He looked at her red hair longingly, wanting to kiss her so badly...and perhaps, just perhaps, his feelings would be returned this time. She had kissed him, after all.

After a few explosions and Sirius's eyebrows getting badly burnt, he and the other two girls decided to go back to the Gryffindor Tower, since James and Lily were bound to start their shift in ten minutes. The three of them said good-bye – Sirius warned James not to let his passion overtake him, because Lily certainly wouldn't want to snog during their patrols, to which James smacked his head and mumbled wordlessly – and the threesome went back to their common room, leaving James and Lily alone in the Heads Dorm.

"Well, shall we get moving?" asked Lily.

"Oh, yes," answered James, who was still a bit angry at Sirius for commenting that out loud.

The two of them walked out of the Heads Dorm and set foot through the school's now empty passageways. It was half past ten and even the seventh years students – who were allowed outside their common rooms until ten o'clock in the night – were ought to be back to their common rooms by now. They walked silently, but surprisingly enough it was a comfortable silence, the first one since the kiss.

They walked down the school corridors, James's insides burning with doubt. He wanted to kiss her so badly, he knew he wouldn't be able to resist the temptation much longer. The girl, however, seemed to notice none of this, and only turned to face him as they reached the fourth floor.

"We caught Suzanne and Davies right here, remember?" she asked.

"Oh...yeah," James answered, turning around and pointing at a broom closet. "Right there, precisely."

"Yeah, Suzanne was so mad at me when we found them," Lily laughed. "She was still fuming today at the prefect's meeting, the girl."

James nodded, "She's just angry because we took thirty points off Ravenclaw."

"It wasn't me!" Lily protested, smiling. "It was you! You nasty James I-Am-A-Brutal-Punisher Potter!"

James laughed at her comment a bit too loudly. Why did he find everything she said so funny, anyway? Still, he was glad they were back to speaking terms, he had missed her voice too much.

Lily was about to set foot to the fifth floor when she felt James's hand wrapping around her wrist.

"Wait."

Lily looked up at James curiously. He wore a serious, yet rather giddy expression. Lily's very last hair reached up to James's nose, making her forehead stand at the same height than James's lips. His messy black hair stuck up as if he had just been messing around with it, as every other time he felt nervous, and his round-rimmed glasses shone with the moonlight rays coming from the window. Lily, of course, couldn't help but find him terribly attractive in that very moment.

"Yeah?" she asked breathlessly, looking up at the hazel eyes gleaming with excitement behind his glasses.

"I – " he mumbled. He didn't know why, but saying it out loud this time felt a million times harder than last year. How come he couldn't just tell her? He could have perfectly told her about his feelings a week ago, and yet right then he couldn't find words to explain himself. "I – I'm sorry, Lily."

Lily was rather taken aback by James's words.

"Sorry for what, James?" she asked curiously.

"I – I'm sorry for being such a prat over the past six years," he started. "I'm sorry for laughing at your red hair back in the Hogwarts Express when we were eleven. I'm sorry for when I stuck my tongue out at you when I was placed in Gryffindor too. I'm sorry for charming your Potions essay on our second year, making it tap-dance across the common room. I'm sorry for putting ants on your hair on our third year, and I'm sorry for just running away after that. I'm sorry for asking Dorcas out on our fourth year just to make you jealous, and I'm even sorrier for the slap she gave me not hurting me enough. I'm sorry for hexing Snape on our fifth year and trying to play hero in front of you afterwards. I'm sorry for being the cause of tearing you apart from your best friend. I'm sorry for having stalked you over the past year – "

"James, James," Lily cut him. "Listen, I know you regret all that, we were just kids back then – and about Snape, it wasn't your fault. I would have found out about his real self sooner or later – "

"Please, let me finish," James pleaded her. Lily looked at him curiously, but said nothing, so James took a deep breath and blurted out his last words, "But most of all, I'm sorry for being in love with you, Lily."

Lily's eyes widened in shock, while James's heart started hammering his chest, hope filling his veins.

"That's – that's nothing to be sorry about, James," she whispered finally.

James looked at her with a triumphant expression, happiness filling every inch of his body. He looked at Lily, who was still standing there, saying nothing. He felt a rush of adrenaline filling his veins, and so he slowly leaned forward – they were only a few inches away now – he could feel her breath tickling his lips, he could already smell her lavender scent –

"James, I need to think," Lily gasped, stepping back.

It took James a few seconds to realize Lily wasn't there anymore. When he looked up, startled, he saw her running down the corridors, away from him.

"Oh, _shit_." He mumbled.

And so he set foot after her, out to the school grounds and towards the lake.

...

**A/N**: So that was chapter fourteen, lads. How did you like that? I'd love it if you let me know! I know I've left this in a bit of a cliffhanger, but oh well...you'll find out on next chapter! :-)

Also, the chapter's name comes from Coldplay's song 'Shiver' which I think does fit James in this chapter. Just letting you know!

Until next chapter,

Eleanor x


	15. Slow Motion

**Chapter Fifteen: Slow Motion**

...

As James dashed out to the grounds, he realized he might have made a big mistake by telling Lily how he felt. He then thought it had been stupid of him – he should have waited a bit more. She was going to think it was one of his stalking habits again, and James wouldn't be able to bear with her crying again, it would simply break his heart. He tried to shake the thoughts out of his head, but it was simply impossible.

Lily's footsteps were barely audible now, muffled by the green, soft grass. James ran behind her darkening silhouette, and wondered at once if he should follow her. After all, she had run away from him, perhaps she didn't even want to _see _him.

Nevertheless, he kept on running until he found himself pacing up to the lake.

Everything looked misty and calm, now that it was completely empty. The half moon shone against the lake's dark, quiet waters. He couldn't even hear the giant squid's tentacles splashing water across the lake's surface, and James almost immediately assumed the creature had already fallen asleep.

He looked around, and at first saw nothing across the lake's side, which made his heart sink even deeper. However, when he saw a small silhouette with vivid red hair sitting by their favourite willow tree, his spirits seemed to lift once again. At first, he doubted if he should really approach her, but quickly thought it was the only way out of that sticky situation. He had to clear things up with Lily, tell her he was being really honest and really loved her.

He tiptoed to the willow tree, just to check she wasn't crying. To his delight, she wasn't. He felt something tickling the walls of his stomach and resolved to sit beside her at once. He flopped onto the grass next to her, with a thoughtful expression and staring into the lake. She had her chin resting on her knees, her hands curled tightly under her thighs. She was just staring at the lake, her eyes gleaming. If there were tears in them, James could not tell. What was he supposed to say, anyway?

"I've always wondered how did the giant squid get here," James commented casually. "I mean, it's pretty big – "

"James," Lily cut him with a soft, almost weak voice. James looked at her, trying to look calm and distracted whilst his insides burned with worry. "Did you really mean everything you said up there?"

James sighed and nodded, "Every single word I said."

They both sat down in silence, staring at the lake thoughtfully. James was starting to feel rather despaired. He knew he wouldn't be able to stand this quietness much longer, and hoped Lily would either kiss him or ditch him so he could just go back to the Heads Dorm, where he could peacefully try and forget about everything.

"I think it's my turn now," she said quietly.

"For what?" James asked curiously, his expression of calm suddenly breaking by the girl's words.

"I think it's my turn to say sorry," she said.

James felt as puzzled as ever.

"You haven't done anything wrong," he answered. "You've nothing to be sorry about."

"Oh, yes I do," sighed Lily. The girl turned to face him and stared into James's hazel eyes. "I'm sorry for being sharp at you at all times. I'm sorry for not taking you seriously when I should have. I'm sorry for calling you a bullying toerag. I'm sorry for thinking you were dim when you're one of the most intelligent boys I've ever met. I'm sorry for thinking you were still immature when you've clearly grown up over the summer. I'm sorry for hurting you all these years when you've really been in love with me all along.

"But most of all, I'm sorry," her voice lowered into a faint whisper, so James could barely hear it. "For loving you back, and having run away from you that way."

At first, James didn't dare say a word. He just stared into Lily's eyes longingly, willing to kiss her as he had never wanted before. Then, when he let her words sink in, he grinned furiously. He instinctively placed his hand on Lily's cheek, caressing it lightly with his thumb, and pulled her closer by the waist with his free hand. He then leaned closer – he felt her breath on his lips, he could almost feel the taste of those thin red lips on his –

"Did you want me to change?" he whispered. "Well, I changed for good."

And a second later, their lips crashed into a sweet, tender kiss. It lasted only a few seconds, but James and Lily would always remember it. After the kiss ended, James looked into Lily's green eyes, which gleamed joyfully, and the girl gave him a wide grin.

"You're amazing, Lily," he whispered.

"Hm, you're not bad either, Potter," she said, giving him the most beautiful smile James had ever seen.

James snorted, "So now you're back to calling me by my surname, Evans?"

Lily smirked, "Just every now and then."

She leaned in and kissed him again for a good couple of minutes. James leaned back onto the willow's trunk, pulling Lily close and wrapping his arms around her. They both sat there in silence for a few minutes, staring into the lake with huge smiles on their faces, when James suddenly stood up and offered Lily his hand.

"Shift's over," he announced. "We're bound to go back to our dorm now."

"Oh, very well," she answered happily. "So now you're Mr. James Oh-I-Am-So-Responsible Potter, right? Nice to meet you!"

"The cheeky girl," James chuckled as he helped her up and his fingers intertwined with hers.

"Whaddya say, Potter?" she asked, a smile playing on her lips.

"Oh, nothing," he answered with a huge grin.

And so they both set foot to the castle. It didn't take them much to get back to the Heads Dorm, given that they were supposed to be up yet, doing their shift. As they both mumbled 'Draco Dormiens' at the portrait and slipped into the common room, James realized he still had his Potions essay to finish. It was almost midnight now, but he really didn't want to get a 'T' on a marked essay, so he decided to get working on it. Lily curled on the sofa, looking tired, and he was now the one sitting down on the desk and pulling his books out.

"James, what're you doing?" Lily called from the sofa. "It's almost midnight."

"Potions essay," he answered. "It's due tomorrow, isn't it?"

Lily stood up and walked to the desk were James was trying to figure out the properties of a Lebannon turnip. She looked at him with a tired expression.

"James Potter doing homework?" she asked, taking a chair and sitting beside him. "Oh my, world's end is drawing close."

James chuckled, but said nothing as his quill soared up and down the piece of parchment as he copied the Lebannon turnip properties from his Advanced Potion-Making book. Lily watched him amusedly, not really believing she had actually kissed James Potter only ten minutes ago. She smiled at the thought of what her sixteen-year-old would say about it, but the fact was that she had enjoyed it very much, and still did.

She placed her hand on the table, fiddling with a small piece of used parchment. A second later she felt James's hand atop of hers, rubbing his thumb against the back of her hand with a serene expression. She could perfectly get used to the warmth of his hand over hers...Lily smiled as she watched him finish the two-foot long essay. She suddenly realized she loved everything about him – the way he grabbed his quill, how his eyebrows happily rose up and down as he scribbled his essay, the reflection of his hazel eyes on his round-rimmed glasses...

Just a few minutes later, James left his quill on the table and looked at the essay proudly, re-reading it in search of mistakes. When he found himself happy enough about it, he tucked it into his bag along with all his other school material, and looked at Lily.

"Well," he said, letting out a long yawn and stretching his arms. "It's almost one o'clock now. Shall we go to bed?"

Lily nodded at once, thinking she wouldn't do very well in her Charms practical work next day if they went to sleep too late. Both of them stood up and walked to the two doors. The one to the left was James's bedroom, whilst Lily's was the one to the right.

"Well," sighed Lily, with a smile on her face. "I'll see you tomorrow."

"Oh, yeah," said James distractedly, staring into her green eyes. "Good-night."

James hesitated for a second, but then leaned in and gave Lily a short, sweet kiss. The girl smiled, not wanting to say goodbye to James. But of course, they had to go to sleep, so she walked to her bedroom door and gave him one last happy smile before closing it behind her.

As she changed into her nightgown, Lily thought about everything that had happened that night. She had kissed James Potter not one, but three times – and she had felt the best feeling in the world while doing so. She grinned, imagining the expression on her friends' faces when the two of them popped into the Great Hall next day, holding hands –

She was about to go to bed when she heard a soft knock on the door. She was a bit surprised – who would need anything from her at one o'clock in the morning? – but when she assumed who it must be as she picked up her nightrobe, her face split into a grin.

"Hi, James," she said as she opened the door. "Anything the matter?"

She found James was still on his school uniform, his black hair standing at odd angles as every other time he started messing up with it.

"Um – I was just thinking, back in my room..." he started.

"No, Potter, I will _not_ sleep with you again," she answered, although a smile was playing on her lips.

"I wasn't going to ask that," he said, feeling his cheeks turning red. "As I was saying, I was in my bedroom – and I realized I haven't asked you a very important question."

Lily's eyebrows rose, as she was completely clueless.

"Will you be my girlfriend, Lily?" James asked then, with a hopeful smile.

Lily looked at him for a second, then her expression broke into a grin.

"Of course I will!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly.

James was surprised by her tight embrace, but still hugged her back with a relieved expression on his face. He beamed, after those two years he had finally achieved all he had wished for – Lily. If only he had realized it was only a bit of a change away...

Lily pulled away from the hug and stood on her tiptoes to give James a long, sweet kiss.

"Good-night," she said, still beaming.

"See you tomorrow," he said, smiling goofily.

Lily backed inside her bedroom, and with one last smile at James, she closed the door.

James stood there for a couple of minutes, thinking of everything that had happened that night. He grinned as he remembered the taste of Lily's sweet lips, the scent of her hair, the gleam in her eyes...he walked up to his bedroom, grinning happily. After two years in love with Lily Evans, he could finally say it out loud.

"Lily Evans is my girlfriend," he whispered, right before falling asleep.

...

**A/N**: I know it's short, but I wanted to split it from "Shiver" because I thought it would be a bit too long. Anyways, I hope you liked it! Chapter Sixteen will come up soon :) I had originally planned to post this after I came back from Paris, just to leave you guys wondering, but I realized that was a bit too mean and so I decided to update now. Cheers!

Eleanor x


	16. Like A Loudspeaker

**Chapter Sixteen: Like a Loudspeaker**

...

It took James a while to realize everything that had happened over the previous night once he woke up in what he felt like the shiniest, brightest Friday morning of October. Every little detail around him, even those which had annoyed James in the past, now seemed delightful to him. Even his obnoxious school tie made him feel happy as he dressed into his school uniform. Surprisingly enough, it didn't bother him to know he had double Potions that day – this was his worst subject by far, although James had always been a good student – because he knew he was going to have a long, beautiful morning with Lily by his side.

As he walked out of his room, he found she was sitting on the couch, a book in her hands. It probably was one of those Muggle classics she loved so much. James grinned, barely believing she was really his girlfriend now.

"What're you reading?" he asked, slipping into the couch next to her and draping his arm around her shoulders.

Lily looked back at him and smiled. She loved how he placed his arm around her shoulders and pulled her close. Truth be told, she loved _everything_ about him. Pity it had taken her seven years to realize.

"_Much Ado About Nothing_," she answered. When she saw James's puzzled expression, she added, "It's a comedy by William Shakespeare. Don't worry, he was a Muggle playwright. You don't have to know him."

"No, no, I know him," said James quickly. He couldn't help but chuckle at Lily's amazed expression. "What? My Mum used to read his books because a Muggle-born friend of hers would lend them to her when they were together at Hogwarts. But I've never really read any of them." He then turned back to the book and pointed at it. "What's this one about?"

"Hm," said Lily thoughtfully, putting the book aside, a smile playing on her lips. "Well, it's about a group of soldiers who arrive to the island of Mesina. One of them, Benedict, and one of the count's nieces, Beatrice, are always bickering at each other in what seems like hatred, but in the end they both end up together."

James chuckled, "That sounds familiar."

Lily nodded, now beaming, "That's why I chose it."

James leaned in to kiss her, which Lily received gladly. The kiss lasted for a few minutes, until Lily pulled away and rested her forehead on James's.

"Don't you think we should go down to breakfast?" she asked.

"Nah," answered James, pulling her closer again. "We won't starve or anything – "

"James," Lily said calmly, with a giggle as the boy kissed the corner of her mouth. "James! We've classes now, you know. Let's go."

The boy looked at her hopefully, but Lily shook her head determinedly and grabbed his hand, pulling him up from the couch. The two of them caught their schoolbags and then, their fingers intertwined, walked downstairs to the Great Hall. On their way there, some of the older students who knew of their past hatred gaped at them, shocked, whilst some girls glared at Lily, who gladly ignored them.

When they reached the Great Hall, however, the gasps and whispers were magnified. Even the first years knew about the two Head Students and how they used to hate each other the previous year. Their classmates gaped at them, some of them cheering congratulations. However, the funniest faces were to be found in the middle of the Gryffindor table. Remus was giving both of them a thumbs-up, while Sirius pretended to sob dramatically onto his shoulder, crying, 'Our little Prongsies has grown up, Moony!', while Peter looked at James admiringly and Tom gave him a high-five when Lily and him sat together in the table. Marlene, Sophie and Mary were now gushing over how they held hands, while Dorcas resumed her gagging noises as she tried to eat her porridge.

"I knew it!" gushed Mary happily. "Marlene and I told you!"

"Yeah, well," answered Lily, glancing towards James. "You know – "

"_Yeah, well, you know_," mimicked Marlene. Then, she gave Lily a hug. "I'm glad you're happy." Then she turned towards James with the most menacing glare they had ever seen. "And if I _ever_ learn of you cheating, insulting, or hurting _my _Lily, you'll pay, Potter."

"Hear, hear," laughed Sirius as James glared at him. Padfoot shrugged, "What? You've wanted to date her for ages now. Don't get too excited."

"Oh, shut _up_," groaned James as he tossed a raspberry at Sirius's face.

...

The rest of the day flew by quickly. By lunchtime, most of the students knew about James and Lily's new relationship, and when they were about to exit the Transfiguration classroom McGonagall gave James something like a congratulation pat on his back, which Lily suspected not to be related to his superb job at transfiguring into an alligator.

After their lessons were over, the Gryffindors made their way to the lake, ready to enjoy a nice Friday afternoon all together. Remus and Dorcas had stayed behind with Professor Burbage to discuss something related to their Muggle Studies NEWT exam, whilst Peter and Mary, who were the only ones who still took Care of Magical Creatures, had offered themselves to help Professor Grubby-Plank feed the Thestrals. Tom and Sophie, as usually, were nowhere to be found, either with their Ravenclaw friends or, as Sirius vaguely hinted, snogging in a broom closet.

"This only leaves us four, Paddy," sighed James as he, Sirius, Lily and Marlene settled down in front of the lake.

"Well, that's not a problem," said Lily, snuggling into James's chest. "I'm tired and you two would be extremely loud if Peter and Remus were here."

"Oi!" exclaimed Sirius indignantly. "We aren't loud."

Marlene rolled her eyes at this. The four of them sat in silence, Marlene reading one Lily's Muggle novels – she was halfway through _Little Women _– and Sirius fidgeted with a Snitch he had stolen from Mrs Hooch's office. James and Lily just sat there together, Lily resting her head on his chest with his arms around her. The weather was idyllic for late October, and it certainly looked like summer was trying to stretch over autumn. They all knew, however, that this would not last long. Soon snow would arrive to the Highlands and they would barely see sunlight like this until April. That was precisely why they thought they had to treasure it while they could before it disappeared for a good six months.

Just as James played with a lock of Lily's red hair absentmindedly, he noticed a small, tawny owl flying towards them, a letter hanging from one of its legs. The owl landed gracefully in front of James, and gave the young man the letter it carried.

"Paige!" James exclaimed when he realized it was his family's owl. "What're you doing here?"

The owl just kept insisting on him to take his letter, so James assumed it was a letter from his parents. He hoped it wasn't anything bad, and ushered Paige out of the view before daring to open the letter. Lily, who had been woken up by James, looked at him with a sleepy expression.

"What's wrong?" she asked.

"Nothing," he answered quickly. He noticed Sirius and Marlene were now eyeing him curiously too, a glimpse of a grin in the first one's face. "It's a letter from Mum and Dad. I hope it's not something bad."

He unfolded the letter and read it.

_Dear son,_

_We've only just heard from Sirius about Lily Evans. Congratulations, boy! I know how much you liked her – not that you would stop bugging me about her over the summer, anyway – and I'm glad you two are together now. Your mother and I would love to meet her, so feel free to invite her to come over on the Christmas break or whenever you feel like it. Your mother says she must be a lovely girl, and I agree._

_Love,_

_Charlus Potter._

When he looked up from the letter again, he found Marlene giggling, and Lily blushing. James looked at Sirius, who was now chuckling softly, and let out a loud sigh.

"One day, Padfoot," he said calmly. "One day I'll kill you. You mark my words, Sirius Orion Black. I'll kill you."

Sirius let out something between a snort and a laugh.

"One day, Prongs," Sirius mocked him. "One day you'll thank me for getting you and Lily Flower together. You mark my words, James Charlus Potter. You'll thank me."

The two girls were now giggling together. James just let out another loud sigh and smacked the back of Sirius's head friendly, mumbling something oddly like, 'you little misfit'. He then turned to face Lily, who was smiling brightly at him.

"Well, now your parents know about us," she said happily, pulling him close. "It's only my parents left – "

"Oh, it shan't be long until they receive my owl, Lils," Marlene said happily.

Lily looked at her, her eyes narrowed. "You did _what_, Marlene Stephanie McKinnon?"

Marlene shrugged, "You'd never let them know, so I thought I'd drop them a note. It was only fair, knowing they're so fond of me and all. They wouldn't mind it if I told them, would they?"

Lily let out a loud sigh, not unlike James's, and smacked the back of Marlene's head just as James had done to Sirius a few moments ago. The four of them sat together, Lily now playing with James's fingers absentmindedly. The boy smiled at this, and leaned forward to brush his nose against hers, the girl quickly leaning in a bit further and kissing him. It was the first time they kissed in front of their friends, and so their kiss was welcomed by Marlene's aww-ing and Sirius's gagging, not unlike Dorcas's during breakfast.

"Oh, shut it, Black," mumbled Lily as they pulled away.

"I can't help it, sappiness irks me up," sighed Sirius. "Bloody hormone boosts."

James nudged his friend, but Sirius only sighed again and lied onto the grass, staring up at the forget-me-not blue sky. He no longer had the Snitch in his hand, for the golden small ball had flown away long ago when he had failed to catch it, so he now felt bored out of his wits. That was, however, until Marlene lied next to him, placing her hand atop of his.

"I guess we'll have to get used to it," she sighed. "First Tom and Sophie, then Lily and James...I can't wait to see who falls in love next."

Sirius grinned at her. He had never talked to Marlene much, but since James and Lily had become friends since their seventh year started, he and Marlene had become closer, too. He had found out she was a great person to be around; funny, witty and rather sarcastic, with excellent comebacks for every single comment he did. He was starting to like her. In a kind of brotherly fondness or as something else, Sirius could not tell.

Meanwhile, still sitting by the tree, Lily and James observed them with amused expressions.

"Has Sirius always been so – Sirius?" Lily asked then, a smile playing on her lips as she saw how Marlene placed her hand atop of Sirius's.

"What do you mean?" answered James jokingly. "Sirius has never been serious."

"Ha, ha," answered Lily. "How _funny_." James rose his eyebrows and grinned, the girl just rolling her eyes at him. "No but seriously, I mean – has he always been like this?"

"Of course," James laughed. "Ever since I met him, at least."

Lily smiled. Then she asked, "D'you reckon they'll end up together?"

"I bet that's what they asked each other yesterday about us," said James as he placed an arm around her shoulder, grinning at his girlfriend.

Lily looked up at him, "Is that a yes?" she asked tentatively.

James grinned, and pulled her closer for another kiss, "Definitely."

...

**A/N**: So there it goes, a short and fluffy chapter to introduce James and Lily's relationship. I promise, it won't be too fluffy from now on! Well...just a teensy little bit. :3 Sorry it took me so long to update anyway, I've been away since Thursday. :)

Eleanor x


	17. The Prefects Meeting

**Chapter Seventeen: The Meeting**

...

November dug its way into the Highlands, bringing with it a sense of chill and an overall cold atmosphere. Scarves could be seen everywhere in the castle, as so were the puffy, warm hats students treasured those days. Students now stayed inside during the short evenings, playing games in their common rooms or strolling around the castle.

The Marauders were not an exception. After a particularly exhausting day crammed with lessons and half-naps over Slughorn and McGonagall's rambles, the four of them had decided to spend some time together, by exchanging notes in Charms lesson, which was the last one of the day. The four of them were packing their things after the lesson was over when Lily came hurrying towards James. Sirius nudged Remus with a smirk on his face, whilst the latter just rolled his eyes and greeted Lily with a wave of his hand.

"Hi," said James, pulling her into an embrace.

"James, we're in class," Lily reminded him, raising her eyebrows. James couldn't help but notice, however, a smile spreading across her face.

"Not any more, Flitwick just left," pointed out Sirius from behind them, his smirk still visible on his face.

"That's not the point," insisted Lily, who giggled when James leaned forward, kissing her. Behind them, a few Hufflepuffs whistled loudly, accompanied by Sirius. "James! We have a meeting with the Prefects now, remember?"

"Oh – right," sighed James, remembering they had arranged the next meeting for that day.

Lily rolled her eyes, but smiled as he hung his schoolbag from his shoulder and said goodbye to his friends, walking out of the classroom with her, Remus joining them shortly after since he was a the seventh year Gryffindor Prefect. The three of them made their way to the Transfiguration classroom, where they were ought to meet with the rest of the Prefects. The two Ravenclaw sixth year Prefects, Lisa Bennett and Paul Engels, were already there, as were one of the fifth year Slytherin Prefects, Nora Brisbane, and the seventh year Ravenclaw, Daniel Goldstein. They all greeted Lily, James and Remus as they arranged things for the meeting. Soon came the rest of the Prefects, and so the meeting got started.

"Welcome everyone," said James. "Well, we already discussed the new shift turns in our last meeting. So, unless any of you have something to say – " The Gryffindor fifth year girl, Jasmine Fletcher, raised her hand almost instantly. "Um – yes, Jasmine?"

"Well, Eugene, Alana, Norman, Francis, Nora, Jane, Simon and I were talking the other day," she explained, flashing a glance towards the rest of the fifth year Prefects. "And we thought the school hasn't had a good ball for, what, a million years?"

"What Jas means," piped in Eugene Mitchell, her fellow Prefect for Gryffindor. "Is that it would be interesting to have a ball or a dance at school. It's something we haven't had in a while, and we're sure most of the students will love the idea."

A murmur broke out in the room. Most of the Prefects seemed to agree with this, except for the sixth year Slytherins Regulus Black and Melissa Rookwood, and Tobias Avery.

"OK, OK," said Lily, making the whispers die out. "So we agree that the majority of us want a ball?" Almost everyone in the room nodded at once. "There's still a lot to work out. Date, theme, place..."

"I say we do a kind of Christmas Ball," said Felicity Warwick, the sixth year Hufflepuff. "It's a month and a half away, we have more than enough time to get everything arranged."

"Yeah, but a Masquerade would be cooler," said Petra Andalee, the seventh year Hufflepuff, who was sitting to Felicity's side. "I mean – get to wear masks and everything – go on a date with a masked gentleman – "

All the girls in the room sighed dreamily at once. The Macmillan brothers, Lucas and Faust, who were seventh and sixth years respectively, rolled their eyes at their fellow House mates, whilst Emmeline, who was one of the sixth year Prefects, nudged her boyfriend, Kevin Swamp, with a smile plastered on her face.

"Again, do most of us agree it should be a masquerade, instead of a ball, to be held in the last night of term before the Christmas break?" asked James, who was noting everything down in a piece of parchment. Again, most of the room nodded. "Very well. I was also thinking, how should we arrange the costumes and such? I mean, there must be a theme or something."

Everyone sat silently for a second, all of them with thoughtful expressions. Finally, the sixth year Ravenclaw, Paul Engels, spoke up.

"I went to Venice this summer," the boy explained calmly, fixing his glasses onto his face. "And there were all these cool Muggle masks and dresses from mid-eighteenth century. I reckon we could do a Venetian Masquerade, right?"

Everone seemed to nod excitedly, especially the girls. They also got some of the points clear within seconds: it would be a formal dance, with both Muggle and Wizarding music, starting with a waltz and then moving into modern music.

"Should we allow first and second years to come?" asked Suzanne Edgecombe.

"Yeah, sure," answered Remus quickly. "But we should let them come until ten, whilst the rest of the students could stay until midnight."

"Great idea, Rem," said Lily happily, noting it down too. "We should inform the students, so they can ask their parents to send them their costumes."

"_Great idea, Rem_," mimicked Avery under his breath, making the other seventh year Slytherin, Cassandra Leeds, snort with an unladylike laughter. "The filthy little Mudblood."

"Hey, what was that, Avery?" asked James defiantly, frowning angrily at the seventh year Prefect. "Do you want to get Stupefied again, or what?"

There was a general giggle in the room, whilst Avery turned red. The girl sitting next to him didn't say anything, but looked at her shoes too. When the giggles and chuckles had died out, they resumed the meeting. Aside from minor details, everything had been set. Emmeline and Kevin were sent to find McGonagall, so they could tell her about the idea of the masquerade. A few minutes later, they returned with cheery expressions, announcing the teacher had accepted with pleasure, and had set off to communicate the idea to the Headmaster.

"Brilliant," said James. "Well, that's about it for now. You people have to hang notices on your common room's noticeboards, tell every single student you find in the corridors – spread the word! The sooner everyone gets prepared for the masquerade, the better."

All of the Prefects walked out of the Transfiguration classroom chatting animatedly, even the Slytherin ones. James, Lily and Remus were left alone in the classroom.

"Well, do you want to come up to the Heads Dorm for a while, Moony?" asked James, hopping off the table in which he had been sitting until then.

"I have to go finish some homework," he said quickly, picking up his things.

"Let me guess," said Lily with a smile on her lips. "Ancient Runes essay with Mary again?"

Remus felt how his cheeks turned bright red again, "Shut up."

James and Lily laughed together. Remus just hung his schoolbag from his shoulder and waved goodbye to his two friends, leaving the classroom. The two of them found themselves alone, and James gave Lily a small smile.

"Well, you didn't let me finish that at Charms class," he commented casually. "And I was wondering, you know – "

"Oh, shut it," said Lily as she stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on James's lips, throwing her arms around his neck.

...

As Remus entered the library, he found it was as quiet as usually. Madam Pince was stacking a pile of old-looking books, whilst a group of fourth year Ravenclaws whispered urgently, each of them buried under a book. Groups of fifth years worked in the different tables, and some seventh years did the same. In one of the tables she found a girl with long, light-blond hair, working on what seemed like a pile of homework. He knew she wasn't Mary, but nevertheless approached her with a smile on his face.

"Hey, Dorcas," he greeted the girl. "What're you doing here?"

The girl looked at him, smiling. "Oh, hi, Remus. Well, I'm just doing homework. Are you looking for Mary?"

"Not really," sighed Remus, taking a seat in front of her. "I just really need to get my Transfiguration essay finished. My grade, and Sirius's for that matter, is at stake."

Dorcas laughed as she scribbled something onto her parchment. "Good old Remsies, always willing to do something for his best friends."

Remus shrugged. Then, he found out she was doing her Muggle Studies homework. Of all the Gryffindors, only Dorcas and he studied that subject, and so they usually sat together for Muggle Studies and did homework together.

"How're you doing with the essay?" he asked, as he took out his Transfiguration book.

"I'm still trying to work out how does this _fellytone_ thingy work," she said exasperatedly. "Mary and Sophie refuse to tell me, and Lily's nowhere to be seen – snogging with Potter, probably."

Remus couldn't help but sense a bitter tone in Dorcas's words.

"Is something bothering you, Doe?" he asked, using a friendly nickname Marlene and Lily had made up in their third year at school. He leaned forward and whispered, under one of Madam Pince's hard glares, "You know you can tell me."

At first, Dorcas simply shook her head and mumbled something like 'It doesn't matter', but then she gave Remus a sad look and left her quill and essay aside, looking at him straight in the eye.

"Do you really want to know?" she asked quietly.

"Of course," he answered, a bit too quickly. Dorcas bit the inside of her cheek thoughtfully. Remus couldn't help but think she looked quite cute doing that.

"Well, there's this boy I've fancied for a while now," she explained. "But I think he's never paid much attention to me anyway. I mean, we're friends, but I don't think he sees me that – that way."

Remus nodded calmly. "I see. And does this boy have a girlfriend?"

Dorcas bit her lip for a second, but then shook her head. Remus sighed, feeling slightly relieved. At least he knew it wasn't James. He looked at her with an equally calm expression, and tried to keep a casual tone.

"And – does he know you feel that way about him?" he asked quietly.

"I think he knows I fancy someone," Dorcas explained. "But he doesn't know it's him. Besides, I think he fancies someone else."

Remus nodded again. He considered a number of options, such as Sirius, a few Ravenclaws and a couple of Hufflepuffs, although he didn't want to press the subject any further. He started working on his essay quietly until he looked up at her again and whispered, "Is it Sirius, Doe?"

Dorcas snorted almost immediately. "_Please_. I know better than to fall for that guy, you know."_  
_

Remus chuckled. "I assume you won't want to talk about it any more."

Dorcas shook her head and turned back to her essay. Remus did the same, but he couldn't help but look back at her from time to tiem. He felt like cheerful, sweet Dorcas didn't deserve suffering over a guy, and still she sat there, with the saddest expression Remus had ever seen on her face. He couldn't take it. He awkwardly placed his right hand on top of her, doing small circles with his thumb.

"I'm sure it'll all be all right," he whispered, looking straight into her blue eyes. Then, he managed something like a smile. "I promise."

Dorcas beamed at him. "Thanks, Remsies."

After that, she managed to get her work done a lot better. In fact, she always worked a lot better when he was around, seeing Remus was always willing to help her with homework and advice her on anything he could. She loved it when he smiled at her, and she couldn't help but feel something inside her stomach when he had started doing circles with his thumb on her hand.

If only did Remus know that it was him Dorcas had been thinking about all along their conversation...

...

**A/N**: Oooh, twist there. Anyway, I hope you liked the twist, and if not...well, it'll be important over the following chapters, you'll see. :) Also, sorry about the little updates lately, I'm back to school and I have my GCSE's this years, so you may guess I have little free time. I suppose updates will start being weekly for now, because I think I won't be able to update as often as before. Anyway, hope you liked this chapter. :D

Eleanor x


	18. Ice Skating

**Chapter Eighteen: Ice-Skating**

...

On November 10, 1977, the Hogwarts students woke up to find the first snow of the year falling on the school grounds. It had taken most of them by surprise, for the snow had not been expected until the start of December, at least. However, the temperature had dropped dramatically over the past few days, and some of the older students now knew they should have expected this. The first years gathered around the windows, staring out to the fresh, white snow, already planning how they would spend that Saturday morning snowball-fighting and making snowmen. The older students were already planning on the future Hogsmeade visit, which was due on the following weekend.

The Venetian Masquerade was now a fact in the school. Almost every student had received their costumes and masks by that time, and most students already had dates for the dance. Of course, James and Lily were going together – it had taken a lot of teasing from Lily for him to ask her out, because he had always assumed he didn't need to ask her, given they were boyfriend and girlfriend –, and so were Tom and Sophie, who had been together for two months already.

"What should we do today?" Lily asked after her friends had finished eating their breakfast, all huddled together in the Gryffindor table in the Great Hall.

"I need to go finish my Defence essay," explained Peter. "I got a 'T' last time for not handing it in and I really don't want to fail the subject."

"Sophie and I had thought of going to the tower," said Tom. "You know – "

" – To snog," clarified Sirius, making the two of them burn in a blush. "Oh, don't you worry, Jones. Go ahead. You're her boyfriend, after all."

Said this, Tom, Sophie and Peter disappeared from their sight, and so the seven remaining Gryffindors strolled down the grounds on their way to the lake which, to their delight, they found completely frozen. Lily and James sat down together, cuddling for a bit of warmth in the cold winter weather, whilst Sirius was magicking his shoes to make a pair of thin blades appear on their soles. Marlene, amused by his idea, quickly imitated him, and set off behind Sirius, skating into the lake.

"Be careful!" cried Lily.

"Thanks, Mummy!" Sirius and Marlene chorused in unison.

Lily rolled her eyes, hugging James tightly. She saw Remus and Mary sitting to their side, chatting casually.

"So, Mary..." said Remus. "Are you going to the masquerade?"

"Yup," answered Mary happily. Then she smiled at Remus and added, "Of course, I don't have a date yet."

"Oh," said Remus, a bit cluelessly. He ruffled his hair awkwardly and then looked at Mary. "Well – I guess – we could sorta go together, couldn't we?"

Mary grinned, and hugged him tightly. "Sure thing! I'm glad you asked."

Lily heard a snort behind her. She turned to find Dorcas sitting to her other side, frowning deeply and staring into her boots. She glanced at Remus and Mary with a despising expression, and then started back into her shoes. Lily pulled away from James, frowning slightly, and turned to her friend.

"Anything wrong, Doe?" she asked, placing a hand on her friend's shoulder. "You know you can tell me."

Dorcas merely snorted again, but said nothing. Lily knew she had been acting odd for a while now, not speaking much – especially when Mary was around. No-one knew what was wrong with her anyway, except perhaps Remus, who now spent quite a fair amount of time with her, during their Muggle Studies lessons and their shifts around the castle. Lily glanced at James, who shrugged, and then at Mary and Remus, who didn't seem to have noticed any of this.

Lily was about to open her mouth again when their peace was disrupted by a loud _thud!_

"What the _hell_, Black?" asked Marlene, who had just fallen onto the cold ice. Sirius, who was standing up in front of her, seemed half-amused, half-worried.

"What did you do, Sirius?" called Lily from her seat.

"I only asked her to come to the masquerade with me!" the boy protested defensively. Then he turned towards Marlene again and grinned, "So whaddya say, McKinnon? Come to the masquerade with me or not?"

"I – " stuttered Marlene, apparently a loss for words as she tried to stand up. Once her eyes met Sirius's, she could barely suppress a smile. "Yeah, I guess it won't hurt to go to the masquerade with you."

Sirius grinned, "Brilliant." And for once, he didn't add one of his childish comments, which Marlene greatly appreciated.

And so the pair of them resumed their skating, pushing each other every now and then, but now with giddy smiles on their faces whenever their eyes met. Lily knew it wouldn't be long until one of the two admitted they had fallen for the other. And that day, Lily thought, she would be almost as happy as she was when she and James got together.

"Say Doe, who are you going to the masquerade with?" asked James a while later, a bit too bluntly for Lily's like. She elbowed him hard on the ribs, frowning, whilst the confused-looking boy simply shrugged again.

"I don't think I'll go," she answered simply. Lily gaped at her, but Dorcas only shrugged. "No-one's asked me."

"That's not true," protested Marlene as she skated closer to her friends. "That Hufflepuff Gilderoy Lockhart asked you the other day, and so did Michael Westron and Klaus Michigan."

Dorcas glared at her. "That's not the point. I don't want to go with Lockhart, Westron or Michigan. It's just – " Dorcas bit her lip. "Never mind."

Lily and Marlene shared worried glances. Dorcas had never acted like this, not even when she had fancied a boy in the past. She would usually joke all the time, make gagging noises whenever Lily and James kissed, snap at Sirius with the most amazing comebacks...but there she was, sitting silently, with her hat almost completely hiding her shiny blue orbs and her long light-blond hair waving with the cold air. She was curled into a ball, her hands under her thighs, and she was staring into the frozen lake not unlike Lily had done when she had run away from James's kiss, a month ago. The girl stretched out an arm and patted Dorcas's back friendly.

"Well talk later, all right?" she asked. Dorcas barely nodded, but Lily took it as a yes.

...

Around midday, the Gryffindors went back to the Great Hall to get some lunch. It was nice to enter the castle after a couple of hours outside in the snow, because it was completely warm and they could take their jumpers, hats and scarves off. When they reached the Great Hall, they found Peter sitting down in the Gryffindor table, with a smile plastered on his face. The other three Marauders assumed he had just had a brilliant idea for one of their pranks, and so the four of them gathered in a corner of the table, now talking in barely audible whispers. Lily rolled her eyes at this, but smiled, and took a seat with Marlene and Mary, who were now commenting animatedly about what they would wear to the masquerade. Dorcas, Lily noticed, took a seat in front of her, and groaned when she realized Mary was sitting next to her.

What had happened to Dorcas, anyway? Mary used to be her best friend. They had always been inseparable ever since they had met each other in the Hogwarts Express, and now there she was, pulling faces at her...what was _wrong_ with Dorcas? She had never acted that way.

Lily ate her lunch thoughtfully, glancing at a grumpy-looking Dorcas from time to time. Mary seemed completely oblivious about this as she went on to telling everyone about the dress her mother had sent her for the masquerade. Dorcas's frown deepened at this.

After they finished lunch, Marlene and Mary told the others they would be going up to the common room to get some of their Defence essays finished, whilst the Marauders muttered quick good-byes to everyone and scurried off to mischief-making. As Tom and Sophie left to the common room too, Lily and Dorcas were left alone in the Great Hall, Lily staring at Dorcas with a frown.

"Well, are you going to tell me what's wrong with you or what?" she asked. "You've been acting odd for a while now, you know."

"I'm fine," groaned Dorcas, a bit too amenable to argument. "I really need you guys to stop fussing over me. First Remus, now you – "

"Hold on," said Lily, something inside her brain snapping open. "I know what's wrong. It's Remus, right? You fancy him."

Dorcas seemed to burn in the deepest blush Lily had ever seen. She stared into her empty plate, and shook her head quietly. Lily knew, however, that she had been right. A few seconds later, Dorcas looked up at her again and gestured for the two of them to get out of the Great Hall. Lily nodded, knowing it would be a bit awkward to discuss Dorcas's love interests in front of the whole school.

When they were both strolling down the fifth corridor, with only a couple of second and third years running past them every now and then, Lily asked her question again. Now Dorcas did nothing but a sig and a faint nod.

"But – but how?" asked Lily. "Didn't you fancy Daniel Goldstein?"

"I tried to," Dorcas explained quietly. "His friend Manon Punie told me he fancies me, and so I thought that if I started feeling attracted towards him, and then he asked me out – " Dorcas looked down at her shoes with an upset expression. "But I can't. He was always there, bugging me. Always reminding me he liked Mary better than me, always telling me I should give up and marry a cockroach."

Lily didn't know what to do or what to say. She had never been through something like what Dorcas was experiencing. She understood her and wanted to help, but then she realized it would hurt Mary if she chose to help Dorcas instead of her. She bit the inside of her cheek, thinking.

"Well," Lily started after a while. "It's not like it's impossible, you know. Remus and Mary aren't even dating _dating_. I mean, they're kind of going to the masquerade together," she stopped when she saw the snort on Dorcas's face. "Oh, come on, they haven't even _kissed_ yet, Doe. It's not official."

Dorcas shrugged, "Who cares? I'm in love with a boy who will never like me. I should get an award for being the dumbest girl in the castle or something."

"Now, don't you ever say that," snapped Lily. "You are one of the most talented and intelligent girls in this whole castle. You got Outstandings in most of your OWLs, and I'm sure you'll kill it in the NEWTs too. Plus, you're pretty, funny and a really nice person to be around. Don't you ever dare underestimate yourself."

Dorcas eyed Lily quietly for a second, and then gave her something like a smile.

"Thanks, Lils," she said hugging her. "I hope you're right."

"I am," Lily assured her. "You'll get any boy you want."

Dorcas was now beaming, "You're the best friend in the world."

At first, Lily smiled back at her. But then she couldn't help but think, a bit too bitterly, that Mary wouldn't think the same if Remus ended up choosing Dorcas over her.

...

**A/N**: There you go. That was a bit of a pointless chapter, but oh well. Next chapter's gonna be _real _drama, you just wait...until then, please review! I just had this idea tonight, and seeing I had no homework, I just thought I'd type a little just to please you people. :)

Oh, and by the way, I've only just finished watching the movie _The Prestige_. It's really, really good so I highly recommend it to all of you if you haven't read it yet!

Cheers,

Eleanor x


	19. In Between Life and Death

**Chapter Nineteen: Hogsmeade**

...

The following Saturday was the first Hogsmeade weekend of the year. There had been one scheduled in October, but it had been cancelled after a Death Eater attack. Surprisingly enough, some of the students stayed in the castle, following their parents' commands after they learned of the attack to the Wizarding village, this including the fearful parents of Peter Pettigrew, who had always been a bit too overprotective of their son and had owled McGonagall to stop him from going to Hogsmeade. Marlene had had a bit of trouble convincing her parents, whilst Dorcas and her third-year brother, Firas, had convinced their parents about the attack not being a big deal – after all, no-one had gotten hurt. The three Muggle-born girls didn't have any problems with their parents, who were oblivious to most Wizarding news, and so on that cold mid-November morning the nine Gryffindors set foot to the Wizarding village of Hogsmeade.

The group walked as usually. Leading the way went Sirius and Remus chatting about something the others couldn't hear, probably just mischief-making as usually. Marlene and Mary were walking a few feet behind them, also talking animatedly about gossip involving Lucas Macmillan and another Hufflepuff girl, Amanda Brice. Tom and Sophie walked together, their arms linked and whisperings words to which Dorcas gagged from time to time. The latter was walking behind them, her hands stuck deep in her coat pockets. Following the rest of their friends, James and Lily walked together, hand in hand and glancing at Dorcas from time to time.

"What's wrong with her, anyway?" asked James, kicking a small mound of snow softly.

Lily sighed. They had already had this discussion over the previous week, "You know I can't tell you."

"Please," pouted James. He blinked repeatedly at Lily with a puppy expression. "Pretty please with a cherry on top?"

The girl sighed. James was sometimes so impossible. She leaned closer and whispered, "She's in love."

"Ouch," said James, casting a glance towards Dorcas. "Really? She looks like she's just about to kill someone, to be honest."

Lily rolled her eyes, "Yeah, because she's in _love_. Girls in love can be pretty dangerous, you know. Jealous, moody, depressed...especially when they're single."

"Oh, so would you get jealous if a girl came over to talk to me?" James asked teasingly, pulling her closer.

"Hm...let me think," said Lily, tapping her chin. Then she smiled at him. "Of course I would."

James laughed, and leaned forward to kiss her. Only when he pulled away did he realize they were already entering Hogsmeade, now walking down the snowy, stone streets full with shops and people walking up and down the streets. No-one would have guessed there had been an attack only a month earlier, for the streets and stores had been completely restored and everything had become as calm as usually.

Soon enough, Tom and Sophie announced they were going to Madam Puddifoot's for a tea, and waved goodbye to their friends, who set foot to the Three Broomsticks together, Dorcas still fuming.

"Don't you want to go take a tea over to Madam Puddifoot's, Lils?" James asked her sweetly, as he, Sirius and Remus came back with Butterbeers for everyone, which had been given to them by a very kind Madam Rosmerta, who was very fond of the Marauders.

"Madam Puddifoot's? No thanks," answered Lily smugly, as she took a sip from her Butterbeer. "That's a one-way ticket to sappyland."

James grinned, wrapping an arm around her shoulders and taking a sip from his own Butterbeer. "That's my girl."

They chatted as usually, all together. Even Dorcas laughed with Sirius's jokes every now and then, and seemed to be enjoying herself for the first time in many days. Although Remus and Mary were sitting together, the girl holding his hand from time to time, Dorcas seemed oblivious to this. Lily was glad her friend was back to her usual self, she even gagged at James and her when they both shared a kiss.

A while later Sirius stood up, after a long gulp from his Butterbeer ("Sirius! That was rude!" Marlene had scolded him), and looked at Marlene, who was still holding her bottle in her hand. Lily knew her best friend had never been very fond of Butterbeer, but she hadn't been able to say no when Sirius had brought her one.

"Do you still want to go to Zonko's, Marlie?" asked Sirius.

"Yeah, sure," she said, standing up too. Then she looked at her friends. "What're you guys going to do?"

"We could go to the woods next to the Shrieking Shack," suggested Mary. "It's nice over there."

"Yeah, when the spirits haunting the Shack aren't trying to curse you," grunted Dorcas, taking another gulp from her Butterbeer.

"I think that's a good idea," said Lily. Then she turned towards James. "Whaddya say, Jamie Boy?"

"Please don't call me that," James sighed. Lily giggled, which made his expression soften. "Yeah, it's a good idea, I guess. I had thought of going with Sirius and Marl – "

"Brilliant," said Lily, standing up too. "Let's get moving."

James did a sigh, but followed her and the rest of their friends out of the pub. Sirius and Marlene said goodbye and set foot to Zonko's as soon as they reached the door, the two of them quickly blending with the crowd that filled the streets of Hogsmeade. The other five looked at each other, and then set foot to their destination too.

They followed the shorter route, by which they would have to take a small, deserted street. They saw no danger in doing so, and so they walked down the street peacefully. James and Remus were now laughing at the memory of some of their old pranks, whilst the three girls walked behind them. Mary had linked arms with Lily, and was happily whistling a Muggle song Lily knew she loved.

"When do you reckon he'll ask me out?" Mary questioned cheerfully.

"How do I care?" snorted Dorcas in return.

Mary looked at her, confused. She casted a glance towards Lily, who had to pretend a confused expression as well. Then, she looked back at Dorcas, who was back to frowning and had stuck her hands into her pockets again.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Mary angrily. "I – I like Remus, all right? I've liked him for a while now. It's not my fault if things with Daniel Goldstein didn't work out you know. Just _grow up_. I want to be happy, and I was always happy for you when you dated the guys you had fancied before, and I will always be. Can't you just move on, and accept there's plenty of people in the world who are falling in love, besides you?"

Dorcas stared at her for a few seconds, in a heart-wrenching silence. Lily was glancing from one to the other, not believing what she had just heard. Those two couldn't be her friends Doe and Mary, arguing over a boy.

"You _tramp_," cursed Dorcas, on the verge of tears. "You just like Remus because he pays attention to you. You never said you fancied him, you never even _talked_ to him before this year. You know who fancied him all along? You know who talked to him whenever she could? I did. And what am I? Just a stupid little friends who shares a desk with him in Muggle Studies."

Now Mary had fallen silent. Lily glanced at James and Remus, who seemed too deep in conversation to notice the two girls' cruel whispers. She bit her lip. She didn't know what to to, what to say, she doubted she even _belonged_ in the middle of that conversation.

It all happened at the same time. Mary opened her mouth to answer to Dorcas's words, when three black-hooded, masked figures Apparated in front of them. One of them was a woman, with curly long, black hair, whilst the two men, one white-blond-haired and the other with a strawberry-blond hair, seemed to be her escorts. James and Remus stopped on their tracks, looking up at the three figures who now stood in front of them, and immediately retroceded a few steps until they reached the girls. The black-haired woman did a loud cackle, which made all of the hairs on the back of their necks stand up on their edges.

"Well, well, well," said the woman happily. "It seems like we've found you your ideal initiation task, Barty."

"What do you mean?" asked the strawberry-blond-haired man, whose voice now sounded a bit childish to Lily: he couldn't have been much older than them.

"It's easy, boy," said the woman. She placed an arm around Barty's shoulders and patted his back gently. "_Kill one of them_."

The first one to react was James. He whipped out his wand and pointed it at the boy, who had already pulled out his wand. However, the woman easily made the wand bob out of his hand, falling to the snow next to him.

"Kill the redhead, she's a Mudblood," tipped the blond-haired man, who was slightly older than Barty.

Barty pointed a trembly wand towards Lily, who had already whipped out her wand. James was now standing in front of her, clutching his wand firmly. But Dorcas was even faster, and sent a red jet of light towards the woman, who fell backwards and made the boy turn around in confusion. James did the same to the blond man, who blocked away the spell and sent one back at him.

"_Sectunsempra_!"

James fell backwards, a large gash appearing in his chest. Lily felt how something burned inside her chest too, and couldn't even glance at James once before the blond-haired man sent the Cruciatus curse towards her. In a flash of agony, Lily went back to the September evening in which Avery had sent a Cruciatus curse towards her. She felt how something exploded inside her, and her yells and screams were not enough to free her from the searing pain that filled every in of her body – she heard nothing but the pulsations of her own blood inside her head, her brain screaming in pure agony – she wanted it to be over, she _pleaded_ for it to be over, she'd rather be dead –

Suddenly, she felt how the Curse left her. She fell to the ground, her face hitting the cold snow, panting for breath. She still couldn't hear much, but this time it was because the street had fallen silent.

A second later, a shriek pierced the air.

She could barely look up, but when she did, she found Dorcas sobbing loudly, also sat down in the snow, her eye bruised and panting too. However, she was directing a horrorstruck expression towards something behind Lily. She felt how something started beating inside her chest, making blood rush through her body again. She had forgotten about how she had been willing to die only a few seconds ago. Lily turned around, hoping what she saw would not be too atrocious.

Lily saw James laying next to her, clutching a red stain on his jumper, but at least he was alive and breathing regularly. Lily found her wand and tried to heal the cut, which improved notoriously. Then, he helped James up, the boy enveloping her in what she thought was the tightest embrace someone had ever given her.

"Oh, Merlin," he whispered, kissing the top of her head. "I thought – I thought you'd been killed – "

"I know, James, it's all right," she whispered back sweetly, hugging him tightly. "It's all right, we're all right, everyone is all right..."

"No," muttered James after a few seconds.

Lily frowned, looking up at him. Then, she looked back at Dorcas, who had buried her face into Remus's jumper. The boy was now gaping at something that was laying behind Lily, something she couldn't see yet. She slowly turned around, looking at whatever her friends were seeing, and were all fighting back tears for. Over their heads, the Dark Mark floated in the sky, a skull and a snake dancing together where a crime had just been committed.

Once she saw it, Lily was not able to hold back the tears welling up in her eyes and buried her face into James's chest, something inside her bursting with anger, sadness and rage. She glimpsed at it briefly again, not believing her eyes. Then, she sobbed even harder, holding onto James for dear life.

There lay Mary. Legs sprawled, dumbstruck expression, white as marble.

_Dead_.

...

**A/N**: Please don't hate me! I feel like JK Rowling right now...but it was necessary. Please no flames! I just had to stir a bit of drama, come on, they're in _war_. It had to happen sooner or later.

Well, about the next chapter – as always, it shall be up soon. :)

Eleanor x


	20. Doubts, Costumes and Questions

**Chapter Twenty: Doubts, Costumes and Questions**

...

The days following Mary's burial were the saddest Lily could remember in the history of Hogwarts. All future Hogsmeade visits had been cancelled – not that parents would allow their children to go if they were held anyway. The act in Mary's memory was held in the Great Hall after dinner the following evening, whilst the Marauders and the Gryffindor girls were allowed to spare their lessons on Monday to attend Mary's Muggle burial, with her family and Muggle friends. Lily hadn't cried that hard since her Grandma May died five years ago, but at least now she had James with her at all times, to support and comfort her.

But obviously, Dorcas had been the one to act worse to Mary's death. She insisted on it being completely her fault, and martyrized herself for having called Mary a tramp right before she was killed. Lily and Marlene tried their best to comfort her, but no-one but Remus could understand what she was going through. Lily would often see them together, appalled expressions on their faces, talking in faint whispers. A few days ago she would have smiled, but now she felt like the two people who were missing Mary the most were locking themselves in a bubble that wouldn't allow anyone in.

November led to December, and sooner than they would have expected they landed themselves three days before the masquerade. Faust Macmillan and some of the other Prefects had insisted on canceling it, but McGonagall had said the school needed it now more than ever, seeing how crazy the world was going. And so Lily found herself sitting with Sophie, Marlene and Dorcas in the Gryffindor girls dormitory, holding her dress in her hands.

"I don't know why are you three going to the bloody dance," mumbled Dorcas from her bed. "I wouldn't be able to live knowing I'm having fun while my best friend is dead."

Dorcas's newly acquired bluntness was one of the things that annoyed her friends the most. She didn't hesitate to say Mary was dead and buried, and often said things a bit too straightly.

"You cannot martyrize yourself," scolded Marlene, pulling out her dress. "It's not your fault that Mary's not here anymore."

"But she was my friend," insisted Dorcas. "And I called her a _tramp_ before she died. She will never forgive me."

"You should go to the dance with Remus," commented Sophie. "You both really need to enjoy yourselves a little. This has been a really hard month, for both of you."

Dorcas snorted. "Yeah, right. I'm going to go to the masquerade with the guy who was supposed to go with Mary. Because that's not how a tramp would act, _at all_."

"Oh, shut it, Doe!" exclaimed Lily angrily. "You're not the only one who misses Mary, you know. We all miss her, and we're not sitting there, mourning all day long. I know she was your best friend, but being mean to the whole world will not bring her back."

Dorcas gave Lily a loathing glare before grunting, "You don't understand. He was practically her boyfriend."

"Oh, for Merlin's sake!" cried Marlene. "They never even _kissed_! Get a move, Doe, and start living your own life! It won't hurt, you know."

"You're coming to the ball with Remus," decided Sophie, pulling Dorcas's old dress from her trunk. "And I won't take 'no' as an answer."

Dorcas groaned, shutting the curtains of her bed. The other three girls shared worried glances, wondering what on earth were they going to do with a girl who had locked herself into a bubble in such a brutal way.

...

"You can't dwell over her forever, Moony," said James, as he tossed his dressing robes onto his bed. His mother had bought him an elegant fancy dress, which resembled a Venetian eighteenth-century costume, and a Venetian mask she had bought when she Apparated to Venice the previous weekend.

"Prongs is right," agreed Sirius, who had received a similar costume from Dorea Potter, and was now trying to figure out how the peaky, long-nosed mask was supposed to fit on his face. "You should get yourself a good girl and have some fun."

"Even I have a date for the masquerade, Moony," pointed out Peter, whose mother had been glad to know he was going to the masquerade with a girl, even though she was a fifth year Slytherin girl who was not very nice and had only agreed to go with Peter because he said he would get someone to help her with her Transfiguration homework for the rest of the year.

Remus sighed, looking down at the costume his mother had sent to him before Mary died. They didn't understand. No-one but Dorcas seemed to get how much Mary's death had affected him. Fancied her or not, he was not sure – he had always felt funny about her, but he had never been sure he wanted to take a step further into a relationship. Remus had always had difficulty with that kind of decisions, but now he felt simply lost. He felt like it had all been his fault, like he should have protected Mary, tried harder to keep her safe. He shouldn't have agreed to go to the woods, they should have stayed in the village with the others...

If they had, Mary might still be alive.

"Moony," said James, who had now taken a seat next to him in his four-posted bed. "I'm serious. You need to have some fun. You haven't been yourself since Mary died. Go out there, have fun for one night, and then you can get back to martyrizing yourself about her."

"You don't get it," croaked Remus. "It was all my fault. And now I can't go to the masquerade with someone else. She would feel heartbroken."

"Mary would have wanted you to move on," interjected Sirius. "She would have wanted you to have fun and keep on with your life."

Remus looked up at him skeptically, but to his surprise James and Peter were agreeing quietly with Sirius's words. He looked at James in disbelief, but the boy did a mere shrug and nodded.

"I think Sirius is right," said James finally. "There must be plenty of girls who don't have a date to the masquerade yet. Dorcas, for example. You two are pretty close, and you've both been suffering a lot lately. Perhaps you two should go together to the masquerade – as friends, of course."

Remus looked at Peter and Sirius, who nodded lightly, telling him James was right. He was still doubtful, but he knew it was pointless to argue with those three. She still felt like he shouldn't forget about Mary that quickly, he should stay away from the masquerade just to show some respect towards her. But then again, he wasn't going to bring her back by sitting in an empty common room, mourning in the couch while everyone else in the castle was having fun down in the Great Hall.

"All right," Remus sighed finally. "I'll talk to Doe later. I'll see what she says."

...

A few hours later, Lily and James were both back to the Heads Dorm. Sirius, Marlene and Peter were sitting in the common room, trying to figure out how to finish their Potions essays. Dorcas was sitting in the couch, her nose buried into an autobiography of Godric Gryffindor she was currently reading, whilst Remus sat down staring into the fire. He glanced awkwardly towards her every now and then, but the girl seemed to caught up into her book to notice. When the clock struck ten, she closed it and looked at Remus with a rather awkward expression.

"Shift time," she announced.

Remus looked down at his watch, and realized she was right. They both stood up, said brief good-byes to their friends and set foot to the first hall, where their shift was about to begin. As they sent the two fifth year Hufflepuff prefects to their common room, taking their positions, Remus stuck his hands into his pockets and gazed down to his feet.

"So, are you going to the ball after all?" he asked casually as they started walking down the corridor.

Dorcas shrugged, "I guess I won't. I mean, it's in three days and don't have a date yet."

"No-one's asked you out yet?" he questioned unbelievingly. Dorcas was a really pretty girl, and he felt positive she would have been asked to the masquerade several times by now.

"Yeah," she answered, shrugging. "But I declined them all. Big jerks and conceited gits, you know."

Remus nodded quietly. He was still debating whether should he ask Dorcas to the masquerade or not. If she had rejected handsome, popular boys, what would she see in him that'd make her say yes? As insecurity gained power over Remus, he felt like he was drifting further and further from his purpose.

"What about you?" asked Dorcas casually. "I'm sure you're going to the ball, right? I mean, I know about Mary and all, but I suppose you will have asked someone else to the masquerade by now – "

"Actually, I haven't," answered Remus timidly. He gazed at Dorcas, whose big, blue eyes were resting upon him. "I haven't given the masquerade much thought since she passed away, you know."

Dorcas nodded, trying to let him know she understood what he meant. They walked up to the second floor in a rather awkward silence, Remus still pondering if he should ask Dorcas to come with him. It didn't have to mean anything, two friends who were going together to the masquerade after suffering the loss of a person who was really important for both of them...

"But I was thinking," Remus added casually, as they walked into the abandoned third floor. "And I've thought it wouldn't be such a bad idea to go to the ball with someone else. You know, nothing serious. Just two friends going to a ball together." He eyed Dorcas hopefully, and to his delight saw that she was looking at him with interest. "And I've also been thinking about who can I go with...and I was wondering if you'd mind coming to the ball with me. As friends, of course. Nothing serious, you don't need to dance with me if you don't want to – "

Remus turned to the girl, who was now giving him what seemed like the first smile that settled upon her face in weeks. He awaited for an answer, but the girl simply stood on her tiptoes and wrapped her arms around Remus's neck.

"Of course I'll go with you," she whispered. "I guess we both really need to have some fun, after all that's been happening over the past weeks."

Remus smiled, too, at the thought of spending what seemed like the first nice and relaxed evening in weeks, only in three days' time, with Dorcas and their friends by their side. True, Mary would always be there for all of them to remember her, but they needed to move on and get going with their lives. And to start by having a nice night with their friends didn't seem like a bad idea.

Perhaps, Remus thought as they both resumed their shift, James and Sirius had been right after all.

...

**A/N**: So there you go. I've never been good at writing people's feelings after the death of someone close – makes me feel depressed – but I've tried my best here. And I promise, I won't keep everyone mourning about Mary too long. I had originally planned to write this in the whole chapter including the Venetian Masquerade, but seeing this turned into a 2,000 words thingy I decided I would split it up. So there you go, a short chapter from yours truly introducing the topic of the masquerade/ball/whatever you want to call it.

Eleanor x


	21. The Venetian Masquerade

**Chapter Twenty-One: The Venetian Masquerade**

...

The four Gryffindor seventh year girls' dormitory was pure mayhem on the afternoon before the masquerade. They were only two hours away, and they were all skipping up and down the room, trying to get ready as quickly as possible. Lily was braiding Dorcas's long, blond hair, whilst Sophie curled her straight black hair with her wand and then proceeded to applying some nail polish on her toenails, making them a light blue matching her dress. Marlene was packing up the make-up the four of them would share, applying some of the mascara on her eyelashes. The four dresses and masks rested on Sophie's bed, waiting for their owners to finish getting ready.

"Are you sure the whole masquerade thing will be worth all this trouble?" asked Dorcas skeptically as she applied a bit of mascara. She had never been one to wear lots of make up, and neither were her friends, so the make up was quickly discarded after a quick round of mascara and lip gloss.

"You bet it is," answered Lily, who had two small braids circling her head, falling over the rest of her dark red hair. "It's going to be real fun tonight."

The three girls shared nervous, yet ecstatic glances. Each of them was now examining their own dresses. Lily's was a light green, matching her eyes. Dorcas's was light blue, matching her own. Sophie's was a scarlet tone that resembled the Gryffindor colours, but slightly paler. And finally, Marlene's were a yellowy orange, which looked very well on her. All of them had typical Columbina Venetian masks, which only covered their eyes but suited them all very well.

When the four of them were ready, they walked to the door and exited the room between nervous laughs and whispers. Dorcas was the last one to walk out of the dormitory, and she couldn't help but glance back at Mary's empty bed. Her trunk and personal items had already been removed, but for one second, Dorcas felt something pinching her inside her chest, telling her she shouldn't be doing this at all.

A second later, however, she heard how Lily called her name, and so Dorcas dashed downstairs to join her friends.

Four boys were standing in front of them. They wore simple, yet elegant eighteenth-century costumes. The four of them wore very similar long, pointed nosed masks, which gave them an air of mysteriousness. However, James's messy black hair and Remus's light brown locks gave them away easily.

"Good night, dahling," said James, offering his arm to Lily and using the poshest tone he could manage. "What a delightful evening, is it not? You look completely astounding, my lady."

"Oh, thank you, _dahling_," giggled Lily, pressing a kiss to his cheek.

The two of them linked arms, and smiled at each other when Sophie and Tom did the same. Sirius was standing in front of Marlene, doing such an exaggerated bow his mask's long, pointed nose almost touched the ground.

"Oh, m'lady," he said in his bow, making everyone laugh. "Would you do me the honor of accompanying me to the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry Venetian Masquerade?"

"It'd please me to," answered Marlene, as both of them linked arms and walked together.

Remus glanced awkwardly towards Dorcas. He was taken aback by how beautiful she looked with her blue dress and the mask giving her a perfect mischievous impression, a glimpse of herself before Mary was killed. He offered her his best smile and did a small bow.

"Shall we?" he asked, offering her his arm.

Dorcas beamed, "We shall."

The two of them walked to the rest of their friends. Both Marlene and Lily were glad to see Dorcas smiling after all those weeks in which she would barely talk. Peter had already left to meet his date down in the dungeons, so it was just the eight of them. First and second years darted around the common room, wearing cute and nice costumes and happily commenting how nervous they were to their friends. When they were about to walk through the portrait hole, a blond-brown-haired boy ran up to them with an excited smile.

"Marlie!" exclaimed Simon McKinnon.

He was being followed by the two girls from the Quidditch match, Eleanor Martin and Lucy Bones, and his best friend, Sam Cameron. The four of them had already been busted pulling pranks around the school by James and Lily before, and to Lily and Marlene's dismay, the Marauders had introduced them to Dr Filibuster's and many other products from Zonko's, which the four children enjoyed with delight.

"Marlie, is it true you're going to the masquerade with Sirius?" asked the boy, his voice muffled by his Jolly Venetian mask.

Sirius and Marlene shared funny glances and then the young man looked at the eleven-year-old.

"Don't you worry, Mini-McKinnon," he said, ruffling the boy's hair, which was the exact same colour than Marlene's. "I'll treat your sister right. I just hope she doesn't stomp on my feet too much while we're dancing." Marlene gave him a hard nudge, to which Sirius winced, "Ow!"

The boy giggled happily, thinking it would actually be fun to have Sirius as his brother-in-law.

"I'll see you at the dance then!" he exclaimed happily, turning towards his friends. The three of them nodded at once, and the four children scurried through the portrait hole, on to mischief-making.

"That was sweet," commented Lily with a laugh. "Remember when _we_ used to be the ones who were five feet tall, scurrying around the school with our friends?"

"Oh, but you were never the _scurrying_ kind of girl, Lily dear," said James as they walked out of the Gryffindor common room. "You were more of the kind of girl who would never close the book she was reading. Dorcas and Marlene were usually the ones who got into trouble."

Lily punched him playfully, but said nothing. After all, she knew James was right. She had never been the mischievous kind of girl.

The eight of them walked down to the entrance of the Great Hall, where many other couples and groups of friends had already gathered together, chatting excitedly about the upcoming masquerade. Everyone wore similar Venetian costumes, and yet they all had different details that made them different from the rest of the costumes. Sophie and Tom quickly walked up to their Ravenclaw friends, whilst Sirius saw Peter standing with his date and a group of Slytherins with an extremely bored expression.

Several minutes later, when not even a needle would fit into the Entrance Hall, the Great Hall's door were opened. Students started filing in almost immediately, and to their delight they found a completely new room inside. The tables had been removed, the room presumably expanded. Twelve Christmas trees stood in the end of the room, and a huge dance floor lay in front of them. There were tables full with cocktail, food and candy for the younger students. Marlene saw how her brother and his friends scurried off to the Chocolate Cauldrons, ignoring the soft tune that McGonagall's gramophone had started to play.

Couples around the room started walking into the dancefloor, where they would all offer their dates to have a dance. James looked at Lily, who was smiling happily at the sight of Tom and Sophie dancing a bit too fancily. James then tapped her shoulder, and so Lily looked back to him. James did an exaggerated bow and held Lily's hand softly.

"May I have a dance, miss?" he asked a bit too fancily, making Lily giggle.

"You may," answered Lily.

James kissed her hand gently, and then stood up again and guided her to the dance floor. Lily glanced nervously towards Dorcas, who was standing there, chatting with Remus, and Marlene, who was now being asked to dance by Sirius.

Lily placed her arms around James neck and he gently placed a hand on each side of Lily's waist, smiling shyly. Lily couldn't help but find it terribly cute.

A song started playing, and Lily recognized it almost instantly from the times she had spent with her Muggle friends the previous summer. It was _Forever Young_, a lovely, sweet song that had made her sigh for weeks, and now there she was, dancing to it with the boy she had thought to hate until a few months ago.

_Let's dance in time, let's dance for a while_

_Heaven can wait, we're only watching the skies_

_Hoping for the best but expecting the worst..._

Lily rested her head on James's chest as both of them danced around the dance floor quietly. She smiled when she felt him kissing the top of her head, and suddenly felt like none of what she had lived over those months had been real. She thought she still was in her bedroom, at her parents', the night before catching the Hogwarts Express. Back when she hated James Potter, back when Mary was alive and owled her twice a week...she couldn't help but shudder at this.

_Let us die young or let us live forever,_

_We don't have the power but we never say never..._

She felt how James pulled her tighter. Truth be told, she found a huge comfort in his caring, strong embrace. It made her feel like James would be there for her, forever, and that no-one would be able to tear them apart. He was there for her on the highs and the lows, always willing to make her smile and to comfort her at times of great hurt, such as back when Mary had been killed. Her mind went back to the afternoons they spent together in the Heads Dorm, with James holding her to sleep, even if that meant that he himself would have to go to bed late. He was such a lovely person, and it had taken her six years to notice.

Lily hadn't even given it much thought over the month they had been together, but for the first time it dawned on her. _She was in love with James Potter_.

She smiled.

_Forever young, I want to be forever young,_

_Do you really want to live forever?_

_Forever or never..._

"James," she whispered, looking up at him. James was distractedly spinning her around, but when their eyes met she smiled and whispered again, "I love you."

James grinned, but said nothing. He made her spin around faster, and then held her tighter. He kissed the top of her head, the grin reluctant to leave his overjoyed face. They both kept dancing, now joined by two sheepish-looking Dorcas and Remus.

_It's so hard to get old without a cause_

_I don't want to perish like a fading horse..._

_So many adventures could happen today,_

_So many songs we forgot to play._

_So many dreams swinging out of the blue,_

_We'll let them come true..._

"Lily," he mused, as he pulled her closer again. "I love you. You've no idea how deep my feelings are."

Lily said nothing, but smiled as he spun her around again.

When their eyes met, she stood on her tiptoes and placed a kiss on his lips.

_Forever young, I want to be forever young,_

_Do you really want to live forever?_

_Forever or never..._

Sooner than everyone had wanted to, the song was over. Wizarding music was back, and so some of the students decided to get a break from dancing and walked to the food tables. James and Lily were amongst these, while their friends stayed in the dance floor with their dates.

As they walked by a line of chairs, they found Peter sitting there, his bow untied and an unhappy expression settled upon his face. James glanced towards Lily, who nodded shortly and told him to go talk to his friend.

"What's wrong, Wormtail?" he asked, approaching the only Marauder who was currently sitting down.

"Been ditched by my date," Peter answered bitterly. "Says I'm boring and a bad dancer."

"I'm so sorry, Peter!" exclaimed Lily. "She must be such a prat."

"Yeah," Peter sighed. Then he looked at James and Lily and noticed they were still holding hands. "Oh, but you guys go and enjoy the party. I – I'll try and find something to keep me busy."

"Sure you'll be all right, Wormtail?" asked James worriedly. He knew what it felt like to be called mean things by the girl you love.

"Sure thing, Prongs," Peter answered a bit too happily. "You two go have fun, I'll try my own way. See you later."

"Yeah...see you," answered James doubtfully. Nevertheless, he pulled Lily's hand again and so both of them set off to the eggnog table.

...

Back in the dance floor, Sirius and Marlene were spinning around a bit too quickly for a waltz, making everyone around them either yell or laugh in joy of seeing the pair of them acting so carelessly. Not far away from them could be found Dorcas and Remus, who were dancing together but however kept a more than respectful distance from the other, unlike their friends and their dates.

Dorcas was back to staring down to her feet. She couldn't help but feel guilty every time she looked into Remus's eyes. She knew it should have been Mary who came with Remus to the ball, but then again, Mary was no longer with them. They had argued, Dorcas hadn't talked to her for days until it was too late. Guilt usually washed over her, but now the feeling was even stronger than before.

"Remus," she croaked, when one of the songs came to an end. "I – I don't think this is all right."

Remus looked into her blue eyes, and shook his head gently.

"Please, don't think about Mary," he said. "Just don't. I know you two were best friends, but – "

"You loved her, didn't you?" Dorcas whispered accusingly. "You loved her but still moved on perfectly."

"I did not love her," stated Remus defensively. "I felt interested towards her."

Dorcas snorted, "Isn't it the same thing after all?"

"No, it's not," murmured Remus. "Look, I – I don't know what might have become of Mary and I if we had actually been together. But she's gone, Doe – _gone_. Of all people, I thought you'd understand that thinking about her really hurts me, but I don't want to mourn, not anymore. I want to go on with life. She would have liked that."

Dorcas looked back up to Remus again. She immediately regretted having hinted that he might not have cared about Mary, and was now thinking of some sort of compensation for her words.

"I know, Rem," she answered faintly. "I'm sorry."

The boy nodded quietly, and then did something that Dorcas would have never expected him to do. He hugged her tightly, his chin resting on top of her head. However, he pulled away in a matter of seconds, as the dance went on.

"Whatever was that hug for?" she asked curiously.

"You really mean a lot to me, Doe," he whispered quietly. "I just wanted to let you know."

Dorcas smiled. She and Remus would spend the rest of the night together, dancing, laughing and having fun – but most of all, feeling alive for the first time in what felt like ages to both of them.

...

**A/N**: Sooo there you go, a little pre-weekend treat, just because I'm feeling all happy today. It wasn't exactly brilliant, but oh well. School's killing me, so that's what you get when Ellie is busy. Next chapter shall be up soon! :)

And wow – 70 reviews already? Really? Wow, you guys are _brilliant_. I can't believe it's real...thanks so much! I want to give a huge shoutout to those of you who have stuck with this story from the beginning – **autumnconfusion**, **Rowanrules41** and **Eldar-Meda** you guys RULE! – and to others who have stuck around later but have reviewed faithfully nevertheless. And thanks a lot to my anonymous reviewer **fishy**, given that I haven't been able to thank him/her properly via PM. Oh, and thanks to **HumeraPotterHead212** too! Your reviews are always lovely! :) And basically thanks to everyone who's ever reviewed this story, it really means a lot to me that you guys have read and actually bothered to review just to let me know you've enjoyed it.

Cheers to everyone! I'm so happy. :)

Eleanor x


	22. Time For A Break

**Chapter Twenty-Two: Time for a Break**

...

Sooner than they had all expected, the departure day came. They were now leaving for two long weeks, after which they would see each other again. Deep inside, Lily really knew she needed a break from Hogwarts. With all the stress of the upcoming N.E.W.T.s and the heart-wrenching incidents that had happened at the school, she would rather spend a good two weeks with her parents, safely sitting with them for the whole break until it was time to return to school. Despite this, she knew she would greatly miss James.

"I promise, I'll go visit every day," said James for the billionth time as the Gryffindors walked to Hogsmeade station. Then, he gave a small smirk. "I might bring Sirius with me if you wish."

"Tempting, but I think I'll pass," laughed Lily. Sirius did a mock expression of shock and disgust, but Lily just winked an eye at him and patted his back friendly. "Nothing personal, Paddy."

"Paddy?" groaned Sirius. "Surely you _won't_ start calling me that now, right?"

Lily snorted, "Of course I will! What a delightful idea."

The rest of the Gryffindors laughed happily. For the first time in weeks, Mary's absence didn't make them feel awkward or incomplete, although Lily couldn't help but shiver every now and then whenever she thought of her old friend.

The nine of them hopped onto the train together, and soon enough the Hogwarts Express wheeled loudly and started moving out of the Hogsmeade station.

"So what are you guys going to do over the break?" asked Marlene. Then she glanced towards James and Lily. "I know both of you will snog from dawn till dusk, so I don't feel like listening to details." Lily had opened her mouth in protest, but Marlene had glanced towards someone else already. "What about you, Paddy?"

"_Oh quit that bloody pet name_," mumbled Sirius. He had only just chewed down a puke Bertie Bott's, which didn't help make him feel more pleased. When he realized everyone else was looking at him, he sighed a bit too dramatically and shrugged, "I'll stay at the Potters', I guess."

"Hear, hear," laughed James, who high-fived Sirius with a delighted expression. "Christmas with buddy Padfoot are always the best."

Marlene and Lily rolled their eyes at the two of them, but smiled. Sophie was now telling them she was going to go skiing with her parents – after a long, tedious explanation to the pure-bloods about why did Muggles put straps of wood under their feet to slide down a snowy mountain – whilst Tom said he was going to spend a nice, relaxed holiday at the Joneses', with his siblings Hestia and Hugo. Peter would go to Dover and spend the rest of the holidays with his mother, and finally Dorcas and Remus were the only ones who remained quiet.

"Well, I dunno," said Remus awkwardly. "My dad doesn't really like to have me around that much, so I guess I'll only go home to catch some sleep. I guess I'll explore Muggle London over the day, and get some pictures for my Muggle Studies project."

"You could come over to my parents' someday!" exclaimed Dorcas. "I'm sure they'd like you. Firas is really fond of you, and I'm sure so will Hector and Helena," Hector and and Helena were Dorcas's little twin siblings, who were eight years old.

Remus blushed, shaking his head shyly. "I wouldn't want to make you feel awkward – "

"Oh, it ain't such a big deal," said Dorcas, smiling widely at Remus. Lily realized it was one of the first smiles she saw on Dorcas's face in weeks. "And anyway, if you do think you'd feel awkward, we can always meet in London and visit the city if you'd like."

Remus looked a bit doubtful at first, but he finally nodded sheepishly and mumbled, "Yeah, that'd be nice."

Marlene and Lily exchanged relieved glances. They were both glad to know Remus and Dorcas were slowly recovering from Mary's loss, and seeing Dorcas this happy was certainly big news.

A while later, Tom and Sophie had left the carriage, and the remaining seven were enjoying a candy feast, thanks to James and Sirius's kind pockets. Peter was shovelling his seventh Bertie Bott's box down his throat, while Marlene happily enjoyed her third Chocolate Cauldron. Sirius had a stack of Exploding Snap cards to his left, but was now eating irrational amounts of Extra-Sweet Candy while Dorcas munched happily a Rainbow-Coloured Chewing Gum, which formed a perfect balloon that would have taken her flying up to the ceiling had she not been careful. Remus was enjoying his own candy assortment – everyone knew he had a soft spot for anything sweet – whilst Lily tried to find out what happened if she tried to eat two Bertie Bott's at the same time.

"Eugh, banana and ostrich," she said, her nose wrinkling as she gulped them down.

"Yum, this one tastes like tandoori chicken," commented Marlene, who had stolen a Bertie Bott's bean from Lily's box.

Lily looked up at James, who was fumbling with a Chocolate Frog box. The little toad-shaped candy hopped off the box once it was opened, swiftly landing on top of James's messy black hair. Lily smiled as she saw a second frog hopping up his arm, cuddling on his shoulder to sleep. James laughed.

"Hey there, you evil thing," he said, pulling the frog onto his lap. He then glanced at Lily and grinned. "When I was little I tried to get one of these as a pet."

"Really?" asked Lily. "That's nice. Did it work?"

"Oh no," laughed James. "'Course it didn't. I left the thing home and went to play outside, and when I came back it was just a puddle of molten chocolate in the living room's carpet. It was summer, you see. Mum got so flipping mad at me for the whole frog thing..."

Lily laughed too, "Poor frog."

"Poor frog?" asked James a bit too overdramatically. "Poor _me_! I had to deal with a lifetime ban of Chocolate Frogs...of course, first thing I did when I hopped onto the Hogwarts Express when I was eleven was to buy a set of twenty Chocolate Frog boxes."

"So that's what you carried around in your backpack, you little rascal?" asked Lily teasingly. "I should have known."

"It's not that fun anymore, now that I know how to make them freeze," sighed James. And, with a light tap of his wand, the frog in his lap froze.

Lily smiled, watching how her boyfriend ate the Chocolate Frog happily. She rested her head on his shoulder, the boy instinctively wrapping an arm around her shoulders. They sat silently, until a loud croaking noise disturbed them. The small chocolate frog that had been peacefully sleeping on top of James's head hopped down to his lap, croaking happily. Lily giggled, James kissing her temple.

"Tell you something?" James whispered. Lily did a vague nod. "Chocolate Frogs will rule the world one day."

...

The rest of the journey went by uneventfully, rarely disturbed until they reached King's Cross. When the train came to a halt everyone started rushing out to the platform in order to greet their friends and relatives who were there. Parents hugged their children, little kids looked up to their older siblings in admiration as their parents helped with their trunks, young couples saw each other for the first time in months...it was a truly cheery moment of the year.

First one to leave was Peter, who had spotted his mother standing awkwardly in the middle of the station. The boy scurried out of the train with a hurried goodbye, and marched off with his mother to the Muggle part of the station.

Next came Remus, whose mother was there too. As usually, his father was not there. Lily only knew he was not all too fond of his son, but had no idea why. On the contrary, James and Sirius did. They both knew Mr. Lupin had despised his son since he was bit by Fenrir Greyback at age five, and had it not been for Mrs. Lupin's insistence, Remus would have very well been abandoned then.

Dorcas parents and little siblings were there too. She said goodbye to her friends and shyly kissed Remus's cheek before hurrying off towards them, along with her thirteen-year-old brother Firas. Lily smiled when she saw little Hector and Helena hugging their older sister by the waist, asking for details on her adventures around Hogwarts. Firas took Helena in his arms, and Dorcas did the same with Hector. With a last wave to her friends, the family of six disappeared through the barrier.

The McKinnons were there too. Marlene's younger sibling was whispering something to them a bit too hurriedly, Mrs. McKinnon looking up to Marlene sceptically, her eyes darting towards Sirius every now and then. Lily knew what was going on after she and Marlene went to greet the latter's parents.

"Hello, Lily," said Mrs. McKinnon with a smile on her face. "It's nice to see you. You're going to your parents' for the holidays, I suppose?"

"Yep," answered Lily. "They should be arriving soon."

"We'd like to stay and talk with them," said Mr. McKinnon. "But I've important duties to assisst today. Perhaps you could come over on Christmas Day and have some tea with us?"

"That'd be lovely, Mr. McKinnon," said Lily, nodding.

The McKinnons allowed Marlene to say goodbye to her friends. She hugged James and Lily, and then turned towards Sirius, who rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably.

"Well – I guess we'll see each other on the second of January," said Marlene a bit too solemnly, sticking out her hand for Sirius.

"Yep," said Sirius, shaking her hand uncomfortably. He looked into her big, brown eyes, hesitating, but finally leaned forward and kissed her cheek gently. "Take care."

Marlene nodded sheepishly, having blushed from face to toes. Sirius rubbed her arm, trying to make their eyes meet, and when they finally did Marlene glanced towards her parents. They were chatting with a friend of theirs, while Simon looked at his older sister with a bored expression.

Marlene looked back at Sirius, who was smiling at her timidly. She quickly stood on her tiptoes and kissed Sirius's lips gently, pulling away a second later.

"You take care too," she whispered.

Sirius was about to open his mouth and say something, but the girl scurried away to her parents, who had not seen anything. Simon was gaping at her, then at Sirius, but for the first time didn't say anything and meekly followed his parents and sister through the barrier.

"Well that was weird," muttered James as Sirius's hands sunk into his jeans pockets, an unusually dreamy expression set across his face.

"Love, love, love," said Lily in a sing-song voice.

Sirius glared towards James and Lily, who were now laughing together, but then his expression softened and he looked up to the high station ceiling, whistling happily.

"Okay, now I know he's certainly off his mind," said James.

Just a few moments later, Lily spotted her parents in the middle of the crowd. She felt a little sad when she didn't spot Petunia around, but she hadn't expected to see her there anyway, as she hadn't been to King's Cross since Lily finished her third year. She waved at them excitedly, and when she had made sure they had seen her, she tugged James's jacket and nodded towards them.

"James, my parents are here," she said. "Let's introduce you!"

"Um – " said James, who suddenly felt a bit nervous. After all, he had never had a real girlfriend who had lasted more than a month, so he had never found himself in that sort of situation. "Yeah, all right. Let's go."

Lily's fingers intertwined with his, and the girl dragged him towards the place where both of her parents stood. James did a small gesture towards Sirius, who nodded, telling him he'd wait there.

In a matter of seconds, James found himself face-to-face with Julia and Sam Evans, Lily's parents. The woman was short and thin, a bit shorter than Lily, with light blond hair and beautiful green eyes. The man was taller and broader, with fiery red hair now branding scattered streaks of white hair and big brown eyes.

"Hi Mum!" Lily exclaimed, hugging her mother tightly. "Hi Dad!" and so she did the same with her father. Then, she turned towards James. "Mum, Dad...this is James Potter. He's my boyfriend."

"Pleasure to meet you, boy," said Mr. Evans, shaking James's hand. "Hope you're treating my daughter right, aren't you Potter?" James gulped, but a second later Mr. Evans's expression turned into a smile. "Joking, boy."

"Such a fine boy," said Mrs. Evans approvingly, a smile on her lips as well. "And good-looking, may I add."

Lily blushed, whilst James rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. The older couple laughed happily.

"James, would your parents mind joining us for tea tomorrow?" Mrs. Evans asked the boy. "I'm sure it would be lovely to meet them."

"Oh, sure thing," said James quickly. "They'll love the idea."

"We'll wait for you outside, Lily," said Mr. Evans, winking an eye at his daughter, whose cheeks were rimmed with red again.

Her parents walked out of the platform, her dad carrying her trunk. Lily looked at James nervously, while the boy chuckled.

"Well, that was all right, I guess," he said finally.

"Yeah," she answered. Then, she wrapped her arms around his neck and kissed him sweetly. "See you tomorrow, Jamie Boy."

"See you, Lils," he said. He kissed her one last time and smiled. "Take care."

Lily nodded, and a few seconds later she disappeared through the barrier. James stood there, sighing happily, until he felt someone patting his back.

"Hey, Prongs," said Sirius. "What's up with you?"

James's hands sunk deep into his pockets.

"I think, my dear friend," said James dramatically. "That both of us have an incurable, terrible disease that will haunt us forever."

Sirius raised an eyebrow sceptically. "What're you babbling about, Prongs?"

James laughed heartily.

"Why, Padfoot," he said. "I think it's love."

...

**A/N**: So yep, pointless, sappy chapter there. I hope the following one gets better...anyway, please review! I'd like to know what you think. I was going to post this next Friday, but I felt like typing a little so there you go, a little treat from yours truly. :p Cheers!

Eleanor x


	23. Teatime

**Chapter Twenty-Three: Teatime**

...

On December 21, around four in the afternoon, the three Potters were standing in the garden of the Potter Manor, ready to attend tea with the Evanses. Sirius, who was staying with the Potters for the break, had decided to stay home, James knowing he'd like to have some time to write to Marlene. Truth be told, Sirius really needed to get his mind settled about everything that had happened on the previous day, at Platform Nine and Three Quarters.

The family of three Apparated in front of the Evans household. Snow rested peacefully around the garden, Mrs. Potter beaming and pointing at the cozy-looking clay garden gnomes. James fiddled with his winter cloak nervously. He hadn't dared tell his parents anything, but he was sure his father's emerald green robes and his mother's bright orange ones weren't what Muggles wore to have a tea with their son's girlfriend's family. His suspicions were confirmed by an old lady passing by, who stared oddly at Mrs. Potter's clothing and then marched off, looking slightly confused.

It was Mrs. Evans who opened the door. The Potters and the Evans had never officially met, so Lily had come after her. James managed to cast a nervous smile towards her. Neither Lily or Mrs. Evans looked too dressed up – in fact, Lily wore an orange turtleneck sweater, dark jeans and light brown suede boots.

"Oh, hello," said Julia Evans sweetly to her guests. "You must be Charlus and Dorea Potter, right?" she said, shaking their hands. "Such a pleasure to meet you. I'm Julia, Lily's mother."

"It's so lovely to meet you, Lily," said Dorea Potter, planting a kiss on each of the girl's cheeks. "James has been talking about you for years. It seems like you're a brilliant witch, aren't you?"

"Yes she is," answered James shortly, slightly annoyed by his mother's comments. He couldn't help but see slight shock in Mrs. Evans eyes, considering his parents were ninety-two years old – looking like Muggles on their late sixties, of course – and wore the most bizarre clothing the middle-aged Muggle woman might have seen in her whole life.

"Mum, is Vernon coming?" Lily asked in a hurried whisper to her mother.

"Oh, no," answered Mrs. Evans. "Tuney said he had something important to do at work. He might join us later, though." She then turned to the Potters, who were peering over her shoulder curiously, eager to get to see a real Muggle house for the first time in their lives. "But you have to meet my husband and older daughter! Come, I'm sure they'll love to meet you."

"You have an older sister, Lily?" asked Charlus Potter interestedly. "How lovely! Are the pair of you witches?"

"Unfortunately, no," answered Lily politely.

"Oh," said Mr. Potter, a bit awkwardly. "Well, that's all right. Muggle lives can sometimes be envied by us wizards!"

Lily nodded politely, and so her mother showed Mr. and Mrs. Potter into the house, taking them to the living room.

"Lily, why don't you show James around?" asked her mother from the living room.

"All righty, Mum," answered Lily.

The girl looked at James, who was still standing in front of her, a mischievous smile on his face. The girl rolled her eyes and pulled him in by his jumper, closing the door after him.

"How lovely," James commented teasingly. "I didn't know your dear sister was going to join us."

"Quit that, James," said Lily. "I know – I know she's not the nicest person to have around, all right? But she's still my sister."

James nodded, wrapping his arms around her waist. "I was just kidding."

Lily smiled. "I know." And so she stood on her tiptoes and gave him a short, sweet kiss. The two of them looked at each other happily, and when James was about to lean down and kiss her again, they heard a voice from the top of the stairs.

"Ahem," said Petunia Evans, walking down the stairs with an air of superiority always present on her face. "I would rather not presence your snogging, thank you very much. You have the backyard just for yourselves, in case you didn't know that yet."

James casted a nervous glance towards Lily, who could only shrug. James looked at Petunia doubtfully for a few seconds, then stuck out his hand with the politest expression he could muster.

"You must be Petunia, right?" he asked, a bit rhetorically. "I'm James. James Potter. Pleasure to meet you."

Petunia's upper lip twitched oddly as she gently shook his fingers with her, with an obviously disgusted expression. "Pleasure."

Lily's glance switched back and forth from James to Lily, who were both standing quietly, James with an awkward look on his face and Petunia looking utterly disgusted. She was about to say something when Petunia opened her mouth first.

"What's that with the clothes?" she asked shrilly.

James blinked repeatedly. "What'd you mean?"

"He's wearing perfectly normal clothes, Tuney," Lily interjected, pointing at James's jumper, jeans and hiking boots.

"No, not him," answered Petunia with a bored expression. "I mean them – _his parents_. What are they supposed to be wearing?"

"Oh," said James carefully. "Well, you know – they're old. Old fashions, I guess."

"Please," snorted Petunia. "Not even Grandma May wears those – _things_." Petunia's words were full of scathing and will to hurt the boy's feelings. Lily quickly recognized that tone, given that she had used it with Snape in their childhood.

Lily glared at her older sister, while James rubbed the back of his head uncomfortably. The younger Evans was about to say something when Mrs. Evans called them, saying tea was ready. The three of them scurried into the living room, Lily holding James's hand and Petunia glaring at them with a disgusted expression.

Petunia took a seat between her parents, making them both feel quite uneasy. James and Lily occupied the smaller sofa, whilst James's parents occupied the third and slightly larger one. Dorea and Charlus Potter were holding the teacups curiously, weighing them in their hands and nodding approvingly.

"I'd no idea that Muggles drank tea," admitted Charlus Potter.

"Oh darling, we do share more traditions with Muggles than you think," said Dorea, flashing an apologetical look towards Mrs. Evans. The latter just nodded, saying it was all right.

"Why can't they just quit calling us that thing?" asked Petunia, still glaring at James from time to time. "It's rude."

James and Lily couldn't help but glance at each other in an attempt to not roll their eyes at Petunia. Lily took a nervous sip from her tea, whilst James coughed and glanced at his parents. When his eyes met his mother's, he gently shook his head, trying to tell her and Charlus to stop fussing around with the Evanses' teacups. The woman nodded gently, and took a quick sip from her tea before resuming her chat with Mrs. Evans.

"Well, Julie," she said. "Your robes are truly lovely. I assume they've been handmade?"

"Oh, no," said Mrs. Evans, blushing. "Old jumper from Portobello, actually. Sam and I went there the other day and thought it was pretty nice."

"Portobello?" asked Mrs. Potter confusedly. She shared a glance with her husband, who did a lost shrug. "I'm afraid I don't know that boutique, Julie."

"Not a boutique," said Mrs. Evans. "It's a – a small market in Camden – " she saw Charlus and Dorea Potter's lost expression. "You _do _know Camden, right? Downtown London. It's quite _La Bohème_ round there." She and Mr. Evans shared a nervous chuckle when they saw the Potters felt completely lost.

"Oh, let it be, Mum," said Petunia, rolling her eyes. "It's not worth the bother."

Lily glared at her sister, who seemed to ignore her anyway, sipping her tea. Everyone sat in a rather awkward silence, eating the pastries Mrs. Evans had bought earlier in the morning and sipping their teas.

"Well, James, Lily," said Julie Evans a while later, turning towards the two seventeen-year-olds. "I'm willing to know how did you two get together. And I'm sure Sam and Charlus and Dorea are, too." The other three adults nodded keenly.

James and Lily glanced at each other, feeling how their cheeks turned red.

"Mum – " started Lily, glaring at her mother.

"It'd be lovely to know, honestly," chimed in Dorea Potter.

James sighed, but was the first one to answer Julie Evans's question. "Well, Lily and I have always known each other – you know, we're both Gryffindors and in the same year. We've never really gotten along – up until this year, that is."

"Why so?" asked Sam curiously. "I'm sure Marlene said you two had been keen about the other for a while."

Lily suddenly wanted to Apparate to the McKinnons' and kill her best friend with a slow and painful death.

"Well, not really," answered Lily carefully. "We – we've kind of never gotten along well...but when we were both appointed as Head Students we started hanging out together...and I guess that's pretty much it."

She saw, to her great relief, that the four adults were smiling amusedly, whilst Petunia rolled her eyes. She felt sure he had delayed any more questioning for later, if not forever. She felt James's hand resting atop of hers again, and felt something fluttering inside her when James kissed her cheek, the two mothers awwing happily and Charlus and Sam nodding approvingly.

"We've got them," whispered James into her ear right before pulling away.

Lily smiled as she felt how her boyfriend gently squeezed her hand before taking another polite sip from his tea.

...

The rest of the tea went by uneventfully. Adults chatted about this and that, and Petunia left as soon as Vernon called saying they'd meet half an hour later. James and Lily found it a bit boring, given that they could barely participate in the conversation and they couldn't chat with each other, either. Only around six in the afternoon did the Potters realize the time, saying hurried good-byes to the Evans.

"It's been lovely to meet you," said Dorea, hugging Lily for goodbye. "I really hope you can come over for dinner sometime. Of course, it'll be harder if you can't Apparate – "

"You can always come for lunch, our house is not that far away from here anyway," interjected Charlus kindly. He then glanced at his son, who was standing behind with Lily. "Jamie, do you want to stay for a while with Lily?"

James glanced at Lily, who nodded instantly. "Yeah, that's a good idea," he answered. "We'll go for a walk and then I'll go back home."

"Lovely," said Dorea. "I expect you home no later than eight, all right?"

"Sure, Mum," answered James, kissing his mother's cheek.

And with that and a loud _crack_! both adults Disapparated in the Evanses' front garden. James and Lily were standing together in the snow, the girl having already grabbed a coat and a bean hat from the living room and the boy making his coat slightly warmer with a Warming Spell. Julie and Sam Evans stood at the door, smiling at the pair of them.

"Have fun," said Julie. "And you've heard what Dorea said, you've got to be back before eight."

"Sure thing, Mum," answered Lily, kissing both her Mum and her Dad's cheeks. "I'll see you later."

And so Lily left the Evans house, her gloved fingers intertwining with James's. Little did she know that, by the time she came back, nothing would ever be the same in her life.

...

**A/N**: Ooooh, cliffhanger there. Anyways, hope you liked the chapter! I don't think I've much to say...so until next I guess :p

Eleanor x


	24. Famous Last Words

**Chapter Twenty-Four: Famous Last Words**

...

_I am not afraid to keep on living_

_I am not afraid to walk this world alone_

_Honey if you stay, I'll be forgiven_

_Nothing you could say can stop me going home._

**My Chemical Romance, _Famous Last Words_.**

...

Lily and James had spent a nice afternoon together. Weather was not too bad – it was curiously warm for that time of the year, actually – and the two of them had found it greatly amusing to sit down in the snow, in front of a small pond, and spend almost two hours talking. After almost three months dating James Potter, Lily had found out they could talk about almost anything – which was really entertaining.

"I used to come here with Severus when we were little," she explained quietly as both of them stood up. She couldn't help but see James frown at the mention of his Hogwarts enemy, and added calmly, "He stopped coming over when we had that huge fight towards the end of our fifth year."

James nodded cautiously. He had never been exactly fond of Severus Snape, so he didn't really know what to say.

"It's nice here," he muttered finally, giving Lily a small smile. "I'd like to come here more often."

"You can come whenever you want," answered Lily, smiling too.

They had now left the woods and were heading towards the town again. James wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulders, pulling her closer and kissing the top of her head. Both of them walked in a comfortable silence, their steps on the snow making soft, crunching noises.

"I sometimes wonder what made you change your mind about me," he commented casually.

Lily sighed, "James, you've asked me plenty of times already. I changed my mind because _you_ changed first. You're nothing like that selfish boy I used to know when we were younger..."

"I know you told me that," answered James, a bit too quickly. He held his breath for a second and then continued, "It's just that I sometimes wonder – I sometimes wonder if I deserve you. I was a real prat, and I just feel so lucky to have you when you should have enough reasons to hate me for the rest of your life."

Lily couldn't help but blush at James's words. He was such a sweetheart, even without trying. However, she knew he was being honest and not just flattery – and therefore, she felt determined to give him an equally honest answer.

"I chose you," she started, her gloved finger intertwining with his. "Because you've changed. Because you're the sweetest boy I've ever known. Because I love you. Is that all right with you, James? Because it's more than enough for me."

James grinned. He loved it when Lily said those things. Actually, he simply loved it when he had Lily this close to him, being able to breath in her soft lavender scent and feeling the warmth of her cheeks when he kissed her. He felt so lucky to have her with him, he couldn't have even described it with words.

"I love you," he whispered.

Lily smiled, her arm now around his waist. They were both walking together, laughing silently, just the two of them. Perfect wouldn't be enough to describe that moment, although neither of them knew that it would be shattered within minutes.

"Do you want to hear a joke of my dad's?" James asked to Lily, who nodded happily. "Well, he used to tease his brother with this one. My uncle Claudius was a Hufflepuff, you see."

"I hope it's not too mean," giggled Lily.

"You'll see," said James. Then, he cleared his throat,

"'_A blind wizard walks into a pub. He says to the barkeep, "Want to hear a Hufflepuff joke?" The pub goes completely silent. The barkeep says, "Sir, I am a Hufflepuff. I'm used to handling a rough crowd alone. I have my wand drawn. The wizard to your left is an auror with his wand drawn. He too is a Hufflepuff. The witch on your right has her wand drawn. She is a dueling champion and also a Hufflepuff. Are you absolutely certain you want to tell that Hufflepuff joke?"_

"_The blind wizard says, "Gods no! Not if I'm going to have to explain it three times!"_'"

The two started laughing instantly, Lily snorting in a bit of an unladylike manner. She held her sides for breath, closing her eyes and laughing. James was laughing to his side too, but grinned when he saw Lily's happy expression.

"That joke was a bit mean," she pointed out a while later, when she had caught her breath again. "But it was very funny nevertheless."

James shrugged, smiling, "I do what I can."

Lily gave him a teasing nudge, and so both of them resumed their walk back to Lily's parents' house.

Just a few minutes later, the two of them arrived to the house. Many things happened at the same time. Lily noticed the front door was completely broken, but that was not what caught her attention. Sitting in the small, frozen swing of the front garden was Petunia, who was curled in a ball and crying silently. Lily had never seen such a horrified expression on her face, and she had gotten to see Petunia getting _really _upset in almost eighteen years.

"Petunia!" she exclaimed. "Petunia!"

Her sister refused to look up to Lily. The girl dashed over to her older sister's side, rubbing Petunia's arm in an attempt to comfort her.

"Tuney, what's happened?" asked Lily. "Tuney – _Tuney!_ Did a thief try to enter the house? Have they stolen anything? Where are Mum and Dad?"

Again, Petunia wouldn't answer. She just stared into empty air, tears welling up in her eyes. She clutched her knees, trying her best not to start wailing again. James had now joined the two sisters, and Lily was becoming more and more anxious with every second that went by.

"It's your fault," hissed Petunia finally. Her words were full with loath and the most powerful kind of hate. "_IT'S YOUR FAULT!_ SEE WHAT'S HAPPENED TO THEM! YOU – YOU MONSTER! YOU _FREAK_! WHAT ARE WE GOING TO DO NOW?"

Lily felt her legs trembling. This couldn't be possible. This couldn't be happening. Petunia must have been overreacting about a thief or someone who had snuck into the house and scared her.

But of course, she wasn't.

Lily knew it as soon as a Ministry official walked out of their doorstep. He was wearing a long, black cloak and a solemn expression on his face. Lily felt how tears welled up in her eyes, and found that she had to hold on to James in order to stand straight. Her legs were now trembling, and she was feeling colder than she had ever felt before.

"Misses Evans," said the Ministry official. "We're terribly sorry about your parents."

"_NO!_" croaked Lily. "_No!_ This can't be happening! I – I'm sure they must be alive – "

The official shook his head in a difficult attempt to calm Lily down, "We've tried everything, Miss Evans, they – they're in their bedroom, if you wish to see them for one last time."

"YOU LIAR!" roared Lily, tears now streaming down her face. "You're _LYING_! My parents can't be dead, don't you understand?" she was feeling weaker than ever. When she saw the official's expression didn't change, she turned towards James, who was standing next to her, his eyes shining with what seemed like tears he refused to shed. "James, tell him – TELL HIM, JAMES! Tell him he's wrong!"

But James didn't know what to say. He glanced from the official to Lily's demanding expression. She looked weaker than he had ever seen her before. She could barely stand up by herself, and her face was now full with tears. He couldn't bring himself to tell her that the Ministry official couldn't have made that up, yet he didn't know anything else he could say.

"I insist, miss," said the official. "You may go see them upstairs if you wish."

Lily pressed her eyes close. She didn't want to believe what she was hearing. She felt completely alone and helpless. She only wanted her pain to end.

"All right," she whispered. "I'll go."

She started walking towards the front door. She couldn't help but think of all those times she had hurried back home after spending the evening by the lake, with her Muggle friends, Petunia or Severus. How her mother had welcomed her with a kiss, how her father had called her "My Little Lily Cat" and had hugged her. It hurt her so much to think she wouldn't see their faces light up again, that she wouldn't see them when she arrived back from school –

She felt a hand squeezing hers gently. Lily looked up and found a pair of round-rimmed glasses and brown eyes looking down at her, the most serious expression she had seen across the beautiful features of James Potter.

"I'll go with you," he said, in a bare whisper.

"No," mumbled Lily. "They're my parents."

"You don't have to do this alone, Lily," James whispered. "I'll go."

Lily couldn't say no, so she accepted James's hand and felt how he squeezed hers gently. She took a deep breath and walked up the stairs with him, fearing the time when she would have to face seeing her parents' dead corpses. She was still reluctant to believe they were really dead, hoping Petunia and the official were just trying to fool them and play a mean joke on the two of them. But something inside her told her neither of them were joking.

When the two of them arrived to the bedroom, James decided to release Lily's hand and stood behind. It was the girl who opened the door to her parents' dormitory, and it was the girl who first saw the dead, white, dumbstruck expressions of Mr. and Mrs. Evans. She approached them with doubt, fear and anxiety flowing through her veins, her heart beating faster than ever before and the half-dry tears on her face feeling colder and colder.

Lily just fell to her knees in front of her parents' corpses, and cried until here eyes were not able to shed any more tears.

...

Lily had cried herself to sleep in the couch. James had sat with her until she had fallen asleep. The Ministry official had left, his two assistants carrying the corpses, alleging they would be delivered back for a burial when the Ministry had determined who had murdered Julie and Sam Evans.

Charlus, Dorea and Sirius had come right after James's patronus arrived to the Potter Manor. James and Vernon had arranged that Petunia would move to her fiancé's house, whilst Lily would go to the Potters' to spend the rest of the break. Dorea Potter was upstairs organizing Lily's clothes, whilst Charlus Potter sat down with a stern expression on his face, the old man probably remembering those distant times back when his parents had died. Of course, Charlus had lost his parents when he was forty eight and fifty three, after having spent more than enough time with both of them. To think Lily had been taken away from her parents at the age of eighteen – it was simply heartbreaking.

James and Sirius sat together. They had barely talked since the latter had arrived, feeling the situation was just too tense for either of them to handle. After all, James hadn't lost any close relatives before – his parents had died long before he was born and he had only lost a couple of uncles he wasn't all too familiar with, so he had never been forced to struggle with the death of a close relative or friend, aside from Mary of course. The same went with Sirius. As much as he hated his family, he hadn't suffered losing any of them during his childhood. So neither of them knew half of what Lily was going through at the moment.

"Worst thing is Petunia won't stop blaming her for what's happened," muttered James. "I can't understand it...I mean, at times like these – shouldn't siblings stick together, instead of blaming each other for what's happened?"

"Lily's always told us Petunia was terribly jealous of her magical skills," said Sirius. "It's not incredible that she's blamed her for everything."

James sighed. He knew Sirius was right.

"You know what you've got to do now, right mate?" asked Sirius.

James nodded again. "Stick with her. Every hour, every second. She needs to know I'm there for her. She doesn't have to face this alone. I have to show her she doesn't have to shelter herself from the outer world because of this, but has to keep living. I have to show her that her parents would have liked that."

James was barely surprised by his own words. He had been repeating them in his head ever since Lily had fallen asleep, and he felt convinced that it was what he had to do for her. Sirius now nodded again, approving James's words.

"And as you might know," added Sirius. "The rest of us will be there for you two as well. Lily will see we're all in this together, and that we will always be there to support here."

"Whoa, big words there, Padfoot," chuckled James emotionlessly.

Sirius shrugged, "big words for a big man, I guess."

"Oh, how humble," said James, rolling his eyes. He saw Sirius chuckle and patted his arm friendly. "You're a great friend, Padfoot."

"Thanks, Prongsies."

Both of them fell silent again. Sirius was fiddling with one of the velvet cushions of the couch, whilst James stared at Lily's peaceful expression. He didn't want her to wake up, because he knew she would remember what had happened and most likely would start crying again. How he wished he could do something for her, even if it were the most significant, absurd thing in the world.

A few moments later, he saw the girls eyes fluttering open. At first, Lily didn't know where she was, but then reality washed over her once again as cruelly as ever. Her parents were dead. She was now an orphan. And her sister blamed her for everything. She was barely able to sit up, feeling her back sore and her eyes wetting again. She didn't want to cry, but she felt like she wouldn't be able to stand the pressure of the most recent events much longer.

James immediately leaped up from his seat and sat next to her. The girl wrapped her arms around him, burying her face in his chest. Everything in her life seemed so unreal, it felt strange to see James was still there with her. She felt how tears started streaming down her face, and how James pulled her closer in an embrace.

"It's all right," James whispered. "I'm here."

Lily nodded faintly. She couldn't bring herself to look up at him, but James didn't need it. He pressed a kiss to her temple and allowed her to cry in silence, closing his eyes. Somewhere in the back of his mind, he was now in a perfect scene in which nothing had happened. He had said goodbye to Lily and her parents and had Apparated back home. He then came back to the Evans' on Christmas Day, when Lily gave him a great present and he gave her the present he had hid under a stack of socks in his bedroom.

It was true, those Christmas holidays were going to be hard for Lily. But James still felt determined to try and make them better.

...

**A/N**: Please...don't kill me. :p I know those deaths were probably unexpected and a bit unpleasant to read, but it's still how I've worked out the whole story...don't worry, there aren't *many* deaths left. Anyways, hope the chapter was all right – and again, _please_ don't kill me. And please do review! Pretty please with a cherry on top? :)

Eleanor x


	25. Christmas Lights

**Chapter Twenty-Five: Christmas Lights**

...

Christmas Eve arrived too soon for Lily. It had only been three days since her parents had died, and now she was forced to wear fake smiles and a fancy dress she absolutely wasn't looking forward to. Of course, James had told her it would be all right if she didn't want to wear a dress, but she didn't want to be rude to the Potters, seeing how much they had understood and helped her over the past couple of days.

She heard a soft knock on her door. She knew it was probably James, but she didn't feel like talking right then. She knew he wouldn't understand. No-one understood, really. Her friends had visited over the past few days, telling her how sorry they felt about her parents. Marlene had even been on the verge of tears, given that she had spent part of the previous summer breaks at the Evans' and had gotten to know Mr. and Mrs. Evans well. But not even Marlene could understand. She felt like something inside her was now missing, something that she would never, ever be able to replace.

"Lily," called a voice from the doorway. Alas, it was James's. "Lily, can I come in?"

"We've discussed the difference between _can_ and _may_ before, James," she mumbled defensively, burying her face in her pillow.

"Fine," sighed James. "_May_ I come in, Lily?"

Lily didn't answer, which James took as a yes. He slid into the bedroom, closing the door softly behind him, and tiptoed towards Lily's bed. She was using one of the many guest dormitories, but he had tried to make her feel as comfortable there as possible. He had helped her hang up some of their school photos, her Gryffindor scarf and many other things he thought would cheer her up. They evidently didn't help much, seeing she was lying there, her face buried in her pillow.

"Lils," he whispered. "Mum says lunch's ready. Do you want me to bring it up here or do you want to come downstairs?"

Lily didn't know what to answer. She knew it wouldn't be polite to stay in her bedroom again, but she really didn't feel like having to share the whole meal with Mr. and Mrs. Potter all over her, trying to find out whether she was feeling well or not. She wanted to stay there, alone, and just think.

"We could have lunch together," suggested James then. "In the garden. Just you and I, Padfoot and Mum and Dad will eat in the living room."

Lily looked up at James, who was now rubbing her arm comfortingly. He was trying his best to make her happy, and she was poorly paying him back for it. But she couldn't just stand up and pretend that nothing had happened. However, she guessed a lunch with him wouldn't hurt.

"Yeah, that'd be nice," she mumbled, scrambling up to her feet, next to him.

James smiled, taking her hand gently. He took her downstairs, where Mrs. Potter had already placed four dishes in the living room table. The woman's expression lighted up when she saw Lily come in.

"Oh, it's so nice to have you join us, Lily!" she exclaimed.

"Mum, Lily and I are going to have lunch outside," said James. He raised his eyebrows at his mother, asking if there was any problem.

"Oh, of course," said Dorea, who quickly casted a spell towards two of the dishes and sent them flying towards the garden, along with a small pot and a pair of silverware. She then gave the couple a sweet smile before they left.

Lily and James both felt incredibly cold when they came out to the garden. The table and the porch were kept warm and clean, but the whole garden was covered by a thick layer of snow. The sun shone brightly above them and the sky was clear, but it was still terribly cold. James quickly muttered a few spells to make the porch warmer, and within a couple of seconds both of them felt considerably better.

"This is nice," said Lily. Truth be told, she hadn't had much time to explore the Potters' since she had arrived there, given that she had spent most of the days locked up in her bedroom. The huge gardens of the Potter Manor were good for a change.

James nodded, "I've grown up here, so I can tell you a few secrets. See that chestnut over there?" he pointed at a tall tree a few yards away from them. Lily nodded. "Well, it isn't a real chestnut. If you go close enough, you'll see there's a kind of face carved in there. Well, my ancestor did it. He transfigured his worst enemy into a tree and placed him there."

Lily raised her eyebrows, "Well, now I know where did you get that temper of yours from."

James laughed, "Oh, shut up." He then looked at the table and pulled one of the chair out. "Please, my lady."

"Thank you," said Lily in an equally posh tone. "What a delightful young man you are."

James did a bow, "Oh, you're making me blush, miss Evans."

The boy took a seat in front of her and opened the small pot. From inside came a warm, nice-smelling steam, which Lily breathed in with a welcoming expression.

"Yum," she said. "Chicken soup."

James smiled sheepishly, "I told Mum it was your favourite kind of stew."

Lily looked up at James and gave him the first smile he had seen on her face in three days.

"Thanks, James."

...

Christmas Day arose with a clear, beautiful sky. It could have been such a beautiful day for Lily hadn't everything happened so quickly over the past few days. She felt a lot better after sharing a long conversation with James – having been joined by dear Sirius later on, of course – but she still couldn't think of all the presents waiting for her downstairs and how she would not be able to see her mother's face lighting up on Christmas Day, or hear her father singing soft carols whilst his two little baby girls opened their presents...

A tear raced down her cheek as she walked downstairs. She didn't expect anyone around yet, given it was six in the morning. She let out a long yawn as she slid into the living room, where all the presents would be piled up. She smiled at the sight of a lengthy stack of presents, to be handed out between James, Sirius and her. She took a seat on one of the most comfortable armchairs in the living room, and looked around her. The Potter Manor was truly beautiful.

When she heard steps behind her, she turned around. There she found James, who was carrying a silver tray, a rather pompous expression on his face – all mockery, of course. Lily giggled when she saw he carried two cups of coffee and a dish full with French _croissants_.

"Good morning, my lady," he said, bowing a bit too ridiculously. "I hope you will join me for a Christmas breakfast in such a delightful morning of the twenty-fifth of December."

Lily sighed, "That would be lovely, _dahling_."

James smiled, and placed the tray on the tea table in front of Lily. He then casted a spell towards an armchair a few feet away and made the chair land next to Lily's within the second. The boy took a seat next to his girlfriend and, with a gentle whip of his wand, he brought one of the packets under the Christmas tree to his hands.

"I – um," he started, feeling a bit nervous now. "I've bought you a present, Lils."

"Oh, I have a present for you as well, James!" she exclaimed. And, with a movement of her wand, another present flew back to her hands from the stack of presents.

James smiled, handing her his present. "You first."

Lily took the box from his hands and undid the big, red lace on top of it. When she opened the box, she found a pair of square-shaped, emerald earrings, which matched perfectly the colour of her eyes. She looked up at James, beaming, and leaned forward to hug him.

"They are so beautiful, James!" she exclaimed. She couldn't stop smiling as she put them on, and then asked him, "Do they look well on me?"

"Anything looks well on you, Lils," he answered, a smile on his face.

Lily hugged him again, and then handed him over his present.

"Your turn," she said, smiling. "Although I'm not too sure about it after seeing you've given me such a beautiful present."

James unwrapped his present to find a complete set of Broom Care. He looked up at Lily, smiling.

"I lost my old one a couple of months ago!" he exclaimed, examining his new set. "This is even better than the old one, Lils! Thanks so much." He leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss onto her lips.

Lily smiled, feeling pleased about her present. After an exhaustive examination of his new Broom Care set, James put it aside and both of them took their breakfasts. Lily had to admit the coffee tasted delicious, the same going for those sweet, honey-covered croissants. Breakfast with James was even more amusing than back at Hogwarts, because it was just the two of them, together. He goofed around with his croissant, spoke with a posh French accent ("But sigr, I'm afraid this coffee eez too cold!") and hummed a few songs as they chatted completely casually.

After breakfast, they both stood up and decided to wait until the others came downstairs by sitting in the couch together.

"Lils," James said, once they had sat down. "I – I heard you mentioning that you thought what happened at Little Hangleton thirty years ago was somehow related to what happened to your parents. Well – I have another Christmas present for you. We'll go to Little Hangleton tomorrow if you'd like."

Lily's eyes widened, looking back at James. She had never thought, of all the crazy things James would do for her, that he'd actually take her to Little Hangleton.

"Do you – do you really mean it, James?" she asked incredulously.

James laughed, "Of course I do!" he looked at Lily, and felt amused by her incredulous expression. "So what do you say, Lils? Do you want to come?"

Lily nodded weakly, and then reached up to give James a short kiss.

"What was that for?" James laughed. When he saw Lily had tears in her eyes, he immediately changed his expression from amused to concerned.

Lily shook her head gently, "You just don't know how much you mean to me, James."

And after that, she rested her head on his chest, closing her eyes and letting James caress her red locks softly, the boy looking up at the Christmas lights in front of them with a smile plastered on his face.

...

**A/N**: Wow, I wrote that sooner than I had expected! I know it is kind of a filler and perhaps the shortest chapter so far, but I felt inspired and just had to write it. :p Oh, and don't expect updates until around October 20th from now on – I have next week crammed with exams and project hand-ins. But anyways, hope you liked this chapter and please review!

Eleanor x


	26. Back To School

**Chapter Twenty-Six: Back To School**

...

Fourth of January, 1978 was a cold day. The Potter Manor's gardens, drenched in dew, were being hit by the coldest winds of the winter, and yet not a single snowflake fell on the ground for the whole day. That was the worst kind of weather – sheer cold, freezing your blood and making it almost impossible for breathing to take place.

James and Lily woke up early, almost at dawn – which isn't all that impressive, seeing that the sun rose around nine or ten in the morning. Charlus and Dorea Potter weren't up yet. Neither was Sirius. They had agreed to wake up earlier than everyone else in order to discuss what they had discovered while visiting Little Hangleton.

"Do you really think that Tom Riddle bloke had anything to do with what happened to your Grandpa's friend Tom Riddle?" asked James as both of them held matching cups of coffee in their hands, sitting in the living room together.

"I think so," Lily said. "I _know_ his uncle Morfin couldn't hold a grudge against Tom Riddle Sr. for that long. You know that man who welcomed us into his house when we arrived to Little Hangleton – Barnabas Cage, wasn't it?" James nodded. "Well, I think he was saying the truth. Morfin murdered the Riddles, but he must have been a bit _off_, as Mr. Cage said. Which means, he was most definitely under the Imperius curse."

James gulped, "But still, Lils – how could this be related to what happened to your parents?" He had been avoiding the word _death_ ever since they found out about the Evanses' fate.

Lily nodded. "Of course it is. I mean, not directly related – but in some way, yeah. After all, no-one knows where has Voldemort come from, or who are his followers..."

James's eyes widened, "You must be kidding me. _You actually think it was Voldemort who murdered the Riddles, and then your Mum and Dad and a dozen other people in just a few months_?"

He regretted his words almost instantly. He saw how tears started welling up in Lily's eyes, and he quickly leaned forward to give her a comforting hug. She didn't cry, though. She just stayed like that, frozen, tears wanting to run down her cheeks. But she didn't cry. A few minutes later, she wrapped his neck with her arms, holding him tightly.

"Thank you so much for all of this, James," she whispered. "I – you're – you're incredible."

James smiled, pressing a kiss to the top of her head. "Don't worry, Lils. We'll be fine."

That was all James hoped for now. That they would be fine.

...

A couple of hours later, Mr. and Mrs. Potter activated the Floo Network for the three teenagers to get back to school, seeing that the Hogwarts Express couldn't be used then. James, Sirius and Lily were instantly transported to McGonagall's office, where their Head of House received them with a solemn expression.

"We all feel really sorry about what happened to your parents, Lily," she said sincerely, for once not addressing a pupil by their surname. McGonagall patted the girl's back with an encouraging expression.

"Thanks, Professor," Lily mused quietly.

Once the three of them found themselves walking around the corridors they all knew just too well, Lily couldn't help but feel like some of the pressure she had been feeling over the last few days was lifted off her shoulders. True, the Potters had been really nice to her – _exceptionally_ nice, she should say – but still, being back at Hogwarts felt like, well, being back home.

Neither James nor Lily felt like leaving Sirius in the Gryffindor common room, so they all agreed to wait for their friends at their usual spot by the lake. While they walked down the twisted corridors and the moving staircases, Lily received some encouraging comments and sympathetic smiles from kids she had barely talked to before, but felt something warm enveloping her with every single person who showed her their support. When they jumped into Sophie in the Great Hall, the girl flung her arms around Lily and hugged her tightly. They had seen each other over the holidays, after Sirius sent a Patronus to all of their friends when Lily's parents were murdered.

"Oh, Lils!" she exclaimed. "How are you?"

Lily sighed, "Well, I'm more or less fine now, Soph. It's been a tough holiday, but now I feel like I'm back home."

Sophie smiled. "Well, I have to go find Tom now. I'm sure he said he would be arriving around eleven o'clock – "

"Sure," said Lily. "I'll see you later."

And with that, the girl hurried towards McGonagall's office. The three Gryffindors walked down to the lake, neither of them feeling all too hungry yet. Once they had sat down, James wrapped his arm around Lily's shoulders, while the girl rested her head on his shoulder. Sirius was now craning his neck to see if any of the other Gryffindor girls came down to the lake, particularly an auburn-haired girl whom he hadn't been able to see for the last two weeks due to the girl's parents' strict no-stranger-boys-allowed-into-the-house rule.

Finally, just a few minutes later, the three of them saw a brown-haired boy walking down to the tree, with a blond-haired girl walking next to him. She seemed to be whispering things to him, but the boy looked all depressed and wouldn't look up. When they reached their friends, Sirius placed an arm around Remus and the other around James, grinning happily.

"Prongsies, Paddy and Moony reunited at last," he sang happily.

"How cute," said Lily. When Dorcas took a seat next to him, she noticed that the girl looked strangely serious. She hadn't seen her since she came over to the Potters' the night after the Evanses were murdered.

"Hey, Doe," she said. "How's the holiday been?"

"Well, they were all right," said Dorcas shrugged. Then she smiled and hugged Lily. "I missed you people though. My Mum asked if you'd come over for a couple of days, but I thought you'd rather stay with James."

"Oh, it would have been lovely to go over to your house, Doe!" she said. "But yeah, I suppose Christmas were better than I had expected. Of course, there's still everything that happened – but I've realized I just can't keep on dwelling about what happened forever. Yes, my parents are – " Lily felt how something choked up in her throat, making it more difficult for her to speak. "They're dead. But I still have James, I still have you guys."

"That's great, Lils," said Dorcas, hugging her friend again.

Lily suddenly felt grateful for everything she had. Her loving boyfriends, her incredible friends. She sometimes felt like she didn't even deserve everything she had. She instinctively reached for James's hand. The boy was joking around with Sirius and Remus, but when he felt Lily's hand in his he immediately looked at her and smiled warmly. He then leaned forward and pressed a kiss to her temple, which made Lily smile. She then gave him a small nod and the boy reluctantly returned to his conversation with his best friends, still holding Lily's hand.

A while later, they saw a girl with bright auburn hair walking down to the lake. She wore a huge grin on her face, and immediately pulled Dorcas and Lily into a bear hug. The three girls laughed together, and then sat up again. The three boys looked at them oddly, particularly Sirius. The boy had something like a smirk on his face, looking something between amused and annoyed by the fact that she hadn't greeted him first. But that was just good old Marlene – friends will always be the most important thing, not boys.

"Ahem," he said a while later, when Marlene had said hello to everyone but him.

The girl looked up at him with a warm smile and nodded. "Oh, hi Sirius!" and then resumed her conversation with the other two girls.

Sirius frowned. What the heck was wrong with that girl. The last time he had seen her, she had kissed him right before leaving for the holidays. _What the actual hell?_

"Girls," sighed James. "They're just like that, Paddy. You'd better get used to it."

"She's not a girl," Sirius grumbled. "She's a freaking whirlwind of emotions."

The three boy laughed together and when the three girls turned back to them, they just shrugged and chuckled to themselves.

_Oh, girls._

...

After a long, relaxed evening with their friends, Lily and James decided to set foot to their Heads Dorm. They hadn't been there since the day they left for the holidays. To think how things had changed over the past few days was simply breathtaking. Most certainly, the Lily Evans who had hopped onto the Hogwarts Express on the morning of the first of September wouldn't have believed everything that had happened ever since. James, Mary's death, Marlene and Sirius, her parents passing away so early – everything sounded so strange, and yet it was all true. The inexorable pass of time, Lily thought as they both sat down on the couch.

She looked up at the ceiling. She had never thought of her as a particularly pretty girl, particularly smart, particularly sweet – she was just plain Lily. Not all too special, but a nice girl over all. She had her virtues, but she didn't usually acknowledge them. She was really humble, which was one of her many qualities James loved so much. She cuddled into his arms, staring at the crackling fire.

"Why did you start liking me?" she asked quietly. "I'm not that special anyway. You could have had virtually any girl in the school – why me? Why did you block yourself from any other relationship?"

James shrugged, "I love you. I don't know how to explain it."

"But James," said Lily quietly. "I'm nothing special. I'm just a girl, there's nothing special about me. I'm not particularly pretty, not extraordinarily smart either."

James straightened up in his seat. "Now, don't you ever say that," he started quietly. He then looked at Lily straight into the eye. "You're not perfect, and neither am I. That's what they say. Well, yeah, I'm pretty much average. There's nothing special about me. But you? I don't give a damn about what everyone else says, you're perfect for me. You're that person who knows how to make me smile or when do I need a hug, when I need some laugh and when I need to feel you close. Maybe no-one else can see this, but you're always there, in the ups and the lows...and that makes you my perfect little girl. Don't you ever forget that. You'll be just another girl for many of them, but you're my only little girl."

James brushed his index finger across Lily's freckles, smiling sweetly. Then, he leaned forward and kissed the top of her head. "I love you."

Lily smiled, feeling James's soft lips against her red hair. She wished that moment would last forever, just the two of them together in their dormitory. James joining up the freckles on her cheeks, feeling his warmth against herself. Forgetting about the world outside, feeling like nothing can bring them down.

Nothing lasts forever, but Lily would always remember the warmth and joy she felt on that cold January afternoon.

...

**A/N**: Gahh, sorry for the EXTREMELY LATE update. I've been so painfully busy, it even hurts. (?) So yeah, sorry about that. But anyway, hope you enjoyed this kinda sappy chapter! Stay tuned for more. :)

E x


	27. Werewolves and Animagi

**Chapter Twenty-Seven: Werewolves and Animagi**

...

The first days of January went by uneventfully, with the Gryffindors falling back into school routine. James was glad to see Lily didn't look all that depressed anymore – she didn't have time to feel depressed, anyway. Their timetables were crammed with exams, essay hand-ins and NEWT-preparation classes. Her friends were always around, trying to cheer her up, and so were James and the Marauders, who always had a joke under their sleeves to make Lily smile. All together they made her life cheerful, instead of letting her fall into the abyss most teenagers who lost a parent sunk into.

They were doing their homework all together in the Heads Dorm. Peter and Sirius, who always relied on Remus's brilliant ideas, were playing Exploding Snap with Dorcas, who had already finished her essay. Marlene still seemed keen on ignoring Sirius, which seemed pretty odd to Lily. James and Remus were working on their Defence essays, whilst Marlene and Lily tried to get on with their Potions essays. Lily noticed how her best friend wouldn't stop glancing at Sirius with a sad smile on her face.

"Hey, Marlie," whispered Lily. "What's up with you? I thought you fancied Sirius. How come you two haven't even talked to each other ever since we came back from the holidays?"

Marlene gulped at Lily's question. She glanced at Sirius yet again, then at the two boys sitting next to them. James and Remus were too focused on their essays to notice their conversation, but still she felt reluctant to speak.

"Let's go downstairs," said Marlene. "It's still an hour until curfew anyway."

Lily nodded. The two of them packed their books and looked at Remus and James, seeing that the other three looked too caught up with their current Exploding Snap game.

"We're going to go find Slughorn," lied Marlene quickly. "We'll be back in no time."

"All right," said James. Then he looked at Lily. "Remember, our shift starts in one hour."

"Yep, we'll be back in a jiffy," assured Lily, kissing James's cheek before walking through the portrait hole behind Marlene.

The two girls walked silently until they arrived to the owlery. It was cold up there, but Lily knew it was a good place to have a chat without being eavesdropped by a bunch of snoopy first years.

"So, what's wrong?" asked Lily. "I mean – I was sure you two would end up together. For Pete's sake, you _kissed him_ back at King's Cross!"

Marlene refused to look up to her friend. Lily was starting to feel worried, and when Marlene finally managed to look up at her friend Lily realized that her eyes were brimmed with tears.

"I – It's because of Dad," she whispered. "He – he thinks Sirius isn't a nice guy, because he's a Black. I've tried to persuade him, I've told him a million times that he isn't like the rest of his family – but he still won't listen. He says he absolutely forbids me to get in a relationship with him. You know I'd love to, but I just can't disobey my father's will. Mum understands, but she doesn't enjoy the thought of her dear daughter marrying a Black – _a Black, the worst, most wicked wizarding family there has ever been_, said Dad. I told him about how he's best friend with James and Remus, and how his family doesn't speak to him since he was fifteen. But still – still they won't listen – "

Tears started streaming down Marlene's face. Lily could see her friend felt as confused and pained as ever, as she had never been forced to choose before. Her family was really kind – Lily knew that because she herself had spent quite a few days every summer at the McKinnons' – but she knew they were considered blood traitors and despised of Slytherins and blood-elitist families in general.

"Oh, Marls," said Lily, hugging her best friend. "I'd no idea. I always thought your parents would approve of Sirius – you know, as childish as he is, he's a really nice bloke, absolutely nothing like the rest of his family."

"I know," sobbed Marlene. "But still, Dad went on with his rant – not a penny in his pocket, he said, and no future prospects. I – I just can't understand!"

Lily let her friend cry to herself for a few minutes. She knew that sometimes you just have to cry to let things get out, because she had spent quite a lot of time crying after her parents' death.

"Know what?" said Lily when her friend had calmed down a little bit. "If I were you, I wouldn't listen to what they say. They don't know Sirius, they're just prejudicing him. I'm sure they'd love him to bits if they really got to know him. After all, prejudice is one of our worst flaws."

Marlene nodded quietly, hugging her friend tightly.

"So what do you think I should do?" the brown-haired girl whispered then.

"You have to let go of your Dad's thoughts," said Lily. "You can talk to Sirius tomorrow, or tonight even. I'm sure he'd be more than glad to grow up a little just to please your parents."

Marlene chuckled and nodded. She let go of Lily's embrace, and then grinned.

"You're such a great friend, Lils," she said truthfully. "Merlin knows what would have become of me if we hadn't jumped into each other back when we took our first ride on the Hogwarts Express."

"Merlin knows," emphasized Lily, smiling too. Then, she patted Marlene's back. "Well, we'd better get moving. James is going to start going mad if we don't get back early."

"All right," laughed Marlene, rubbing the tears out of her cheeks. When they both felt ready, the two girls walked down to the Heads Dorm, both smiling and feeling a whole lot better.

It was true, Marlene needed her best friend as much as Lily needed hers. Only Merlin knew what would have happened if they hadn't jumped into each other on the Hogwarts Express, back in those carefree times when they were eleven and thought the world was all about leisure and fun.

...

When both girls arrived to the Heads Dorm, they found that Remus had already left. Dorcas looked a bit surprised, while the three boys were whispering at each other hurriedly.

"What's wrong?" asked Lily. Dorcas did a shrug, which made her feel even more worried.

The three boys turned to face the three girls. Sirius seemed to have momentarily forgotten about Marlene, whilst James started messing with his hair as he usually did when he felt nervous. Peter bit his nails nervously, his big brown eyes darting from one girl to the other. A second later, Sirius and Peter nodded at each other and scurried to the door, closely followed by the third Marauder.

"Lils, I won't be able to go patrolling today," said James hurriedly, as he walked after Sirius and Peter. "Take Doe with you or whatever."

"But where are you three going?" asked Lily.

"I can't tell you," said James quickly. "But I promise I'll be back soon. Don't worry."

But that last sentence only made things worse. As the three boys disappeared through the portrait hole, Lily hurried after them, closely followed by her two friends. The three boys were now running downstairs, almost tripping over the steps on their way out of the castle.

"Should we follow them?" asked Marlene.

"Of course we should!" exclaimed Dorcas. "Remus just ran out of the room like a quarter of an hour ago and now these three are going to disappear too. This has been happening for way too long, and I refuse to stay oblivious about whatever those four are up to."

"You mean this has happened before?" asked Lily. She couldn't believe her boyfriend had been scurrying out of their dorm without telling her about it before. Of course, she understood that James needed to have his own space, but she usually knew what he was up to more or less. It didn't annoy her, she only felt a little disappointed.

"Let's get moving," she finally said.

The three girls followed the boys downstairs, until they found themselves in the Entrance Hall. It was really cold outside, and they weren't wearing winter clothes. Lily quickly performed a warming spell on their clothes, and then the girls walked out of the schools doors into the snowy paths leading to the Forbidden Forest. They saw there were several footstep printings on the snow, so they decided to follow them. Lily wondered where on earth would those footsteps lead them to as they approached the Forbidden Forest. Luckily, the footsteps seemed to go to the lake, and then to a place the girls knew rather well.

"The Whomping Whillow!" whispered Lily.

The three girls approached the tree with mystified expressions. The tree's branches were usually swishing and swaying back and forth, hurting a student every now and then. But that night every single branch of the Whomping Willow stood very still, the tree looking completely frozen. In front of them, only a few feet away, lay a small gap between the willow's huge roots, where the three pairs of footsteps came to a halt.

"Do you think we should see what's inside?" asked Dorcas, now sounding a bit fearful. "It could be dangerous."

"Oh, don't be such a cry baby," Marlene scolded her. "Move your arse over here, Meadowes."

The first one to slide down the hole was Marlene. She landed swiftly on top of a pile of autumn leaves, which made her landing a lot softer. She was soon followed by Lily and Dorcas, the latter landing on top of the former a bit too clumsily.

"Sorry!" whispered Dorcas as she stood up.

Lily frowned, but didn't say anything. They now found themselves inside what looked like a long cavernous corridor which may lead them to Merlin knew where. It was risky, but then again the three girls had to know what their friends were up to.

"I say we continue," said Lily. "We haven't gotten this far to chicken out now."

"I agree," said Marlene.

Dorcas finally sighed and nodded, and so the three girls started walking down the passageway. It was dark, cold and damp, and Lily feared they'd jump into a weird magical creature they didn't know. She hadn't studied Care of Magical Creatures since her fifth year, and so she doubted she would be able to make it past a bunch of angry Blast-Ended Skrewts.

They finally arrived to what seemed like a long, moldy staircase. As the three girls walked up the steps, the wood creaked noisily, which made them hesitate for a few seconds until they took the next step. Lily looked backwards at her friends a couple of times. Marlene looked a wee bit scared, whilst Dorcas seemed to be downright terrified. The three of them stopped on their tracks when they heard a loud moan coming from the floor above them, followed by a loud bark and the pant of what sounded like a deer.

"What was that?" asked Marlene in a faint whisper.

"It was probably some animals up there, in the Forbidden Forest," said Lily. "Remember we're supposed to be several feet underground."

Marlene nodded cautiously, still not sounding all too convinced. The three girls kept on walking until they reached a wooden door, which was almost closed. Lily stared at it for a few seconds until she noticed her friends had caught up with her. The three of them heard the barks and the long moans, which seemed to come from behind that door.

"What if there's a wild dog inside or something?" asked Dorcas. "Let's get our arses back to the common room, Lils. We'll get in trouble."

"We're already here," whispered Lily. "It won't hurt to find out what's wrong with those four. What if something has happened to them?"

Dorcas scoffed quietly, just to be interrupted by a loud _thud!_ which made the whole shack shake to its pillars. It was followed by a number of barks, pants and long, miserable howls. They heard tiny footsteps up and down the room too, which hinted the presence of something like a rather big rat inside.

"Lily, I really think we should – "

But Dorcas never managed to finish her sentence, because the door in front of them flung open and the biggest, scariest creature the three girls had ever seen appeared behind it. Huge bloodshot eyes, long and sharp teeth, saliva gagging out from its mouth. The creature stood up and was more than eight feet tall, with long claws and a bewildered expression.

_A werewolf._

The three girls started screaming at once. The werewolf charged towards them, his instincts telling him to hurt those three girls who were standing in front of him. He pierced Marlene's arm with one of his claws, and by the looks of it it was much deeper than a normal cut. Marlene was sobbing in pain, while Lily and Dorcas tried to pull her up. The werewolf was doing something like a smile, pleased by the smell of fresh blood and opened flesh. It was like delicious treacle tart filling a hungry boy's nostrils.

Three animals emerged from the other room. One was a big, black door, which Lily thought was a Grimm. The dog dashed towards them and bit Marlene's pullover, taking her away from the other girls.

"MARLENE!" cried Dorcas, despite being completely petrified. The other animal, a stag, was now pushing the werewolf away from both girls, whilst the rat raced up and down the room rather frantically. The dog and Marlene had already disappeared down the stairs, although they could still hear their friend's muffled cries.

_So this is it_, thought Lily. _We're going to die now. That dog will eat Marlene, and the werewolf will ultimately get us after that poor stag gets killed. Where in the world are we? Where are the boys? Oh, the bloody gits they are –_

But then she saw how the stag finally knocked the werewolf down, the creature falling to the floor for a second. The stag then raced towards the two girls, who stared at it fearfully. The stag signaled for them to hop onto its back, and it didn't need to tell the girls twice. They both hopped on, Dorcas frantically looking back at the unconscious werewolf. Lily noticed that the stag had several scratches on it back and legs, provoked by the werewolf's anger. The stag galloped down the stairs, and then through the corridor the three girls had followed only a few minutes before. Lily had no idea of where they were going to end up, but all she could think of right then was about running away from that werewolf.

The stag came to a halt when they arrived to the entrance of the Forbidden Forest. They were only a few yards away from Hagrid's hut, so the two girls would easily make it back to the school.

"But where's Marlene?" whispered Lily nervously.

Their answer came in a sniffle, only a few feet away from them. Lily immediately mounted off the stag, and ran towards two figures in the dark. Marlene was there, her arm bleeding and sobbing harder than ever, while Sirius stood in front of her, a worried expression on his face.

"You sure you're all right – ?" he started.

"YOU ARSEHOLE!" exclaimed Marlene angry. "I THOUGHT SOMETHING HAD HAPPENED TO YOU, I THOUGHT THE WEREWOLF HAD EATEN ALL THREE OF YOU WHEN I REALIZED WHAT WAS GOING ON!" and then Marlene slapped his cheek with her good arm as hard as she could. Sirius's cheek turned red, but the girl kept on glaring at him. A second later, however, she flung herself into Sirius's arms, back to sobbing. "Don't you dare do it again, you arse."

Sirius looked as confused as ever, but kissed the top of her head lightly, hugging her back. Lily couldn't help but feel a wee bit confused about everything – where was the dog, and what was Sirius doing there?

She turned around to find Dorcas clumsily trying to hop off the stag, which looked oddly nervous. When the girl finally managed to hop back to the ground, the weirdest thing Lily had seen that night happened right in front of her – the stag started transfiguring and a second later she found herself face-to-face with James, who immediately ran over to her and hugged Lily tightly.

"Why were the three of you there?" he asked. He looked like he tried to seem angry, but in the end he could only sound despaired. "I – that was so stupid of you!" And so James hugged her tighter and let out a loud sigh. "Dear Merlin, Lily. I've never been so scared."

For a few seconds, James couldn't do anything but check Lily was all right and hadn't been hurt. He himself sported a few scratches and a bruise under his left eye, and suddenly everything made sense to Lily.

"Remus is a werewolf, right?" she asked quietly.

James looked at her for a few second, and then sighed and nodded. Dorcas, who was standing next to them, had her eyes wide now, but said nothing. She looked so dumbstruck about the news...

"But – but why are you and Sirius Animagi then?" asked Lily. "Peter was the rat, right? What were the three of you doing there? You could have gotten hurt, for Merlin's sake!"

"We've been doing it since we were fourteen," explained James. "We don't want to leave Remus alone. Full moon is a really tough night for him, you know. We just don't want him to face it alone."

Lily looked up at James again, after glancing at Marlene and Sirius, who were now sitting together, the boy examining Marlene's wound carefully. Dorcas was just standing there, seeming to be as lost as ever. Lily looked back at James, and smiled.

"I wish I had known you're more than what meets the eye," she whispered. "You're – you're incredible, James."

And so she stood on her tiptoes and pressed her lips against his gently.

"We have to get back now," whispered James then, pulling away a few seconds later. "I promise we'll be fine. I'll be back at dawn, all right?"

Lily nodded quietly. She didn't want James and Sirius to risk their lives, but she knew they had to do it for Remus. Sirius stood up, helping Marlene up too, and walked over to the other three.

"Let's get moving, Prongs," he said.

James nodded, and pressed one last kiss to Lily's cheek before transfiguring back into a stag. Then both of them marched off towards the Whomping Willow, where they would spend the rest of their night trying to help their friend. A tear rolled down Marlene's cheek.

"They're just so brave, aren't they?" she asked quietly, rubbing the bandage Sirius had tied around the cut on her arm with his school tie.

"We are too," said Lily firmly. Then she smiled at her two friends. "Let's get back to the castle. They'll be back soon."

Marlene nodded. The two girls looked at Dorcas, who had her eyes brimmed with tears.

"What's wrong, Doe?" asked Lily.

"Nothing," answered the girl. "I just wish Remus had told me. I could have helped him – "

"His friends will always be there to help," assured Marlene. "You'll just have to make sure you're always there when he isn't a werewolf."

Dorcas nodded. The three girls looked at each other and, after a short group hug, they set off towards the castle.

...

**A/N**: Hehehe! Here you have a new update. It hasn't taken that long for me to get it published, has it? Anyway, **please** **review**! It means a lot to me to know what do you guys think of my story.

E x


	28. Sirius's Idea

**Chapter Twenty-Eight**

**Sirius's Idea**

...

The 27th of January, the day after Lily, Dorcas and Marlene found out about the Marauders' secret, was a cold and damp one. It was snowing outside, and everyone had huddled together at the Heads Dorm. That is, everyone except for Remus. The boy had been avoiding the girls all day, particularly Dorcas. He had skipped his Muggle Studies lesson simply because he didn't feel like facing the fact that she knew about his condition. Dorcas felt terribly worried, and yet she didn't dare do anything. Everything seemed to be working out fine between her friends – James and Lily were as happy as ever, and love seemed to blossom between Marlene and Sirius despite the girl's father's wishes. Why was she supposed to stay unhappy while the rest of her friends were all cheerful? It didn't seem fair.

True, Dorcas had been thinking about it over and over ever since she found out – a werewolf was always a tough thing to deal with, but she was sure she would be able to handle the situation. She felt sure about her feelings towards Remus, and she knew the other three Marauders would always be there to help them. Things would work out if both of them really tried. But the thing was – did Remus actually _want_ to try?_  
_

She was playing Exploding Snap with Marlene and Peter while Lily read a book and James and Sirius finished their Potions essays. Everything seemed calm and nice right then – almost an idle, they would all have dared to say.

"Meh," mumbled Peter as the deck of cards exploded in front of his face, covering his whole visage with ashes.

The two girls laughed, and the boy's frown deepened. Marlene patted him on the back in a friendly way.

"You know we're friends despite all the teasing, right Wormy?" asked the girl.

Peter seemed to light up at Marlene's words, and nodded happily. Then, Dorcas started shuffling the deck of cards yet again, getting ready for a new game. Sirius and James observed them from the table, discussing something in low whispers.

"Do you think Moony's feeling bugged about Dorcas finding out his furry secret?" asked Sirius.

"I dunno, possibly," said James, shrugging. "I'd feel worried too if I were him. I mean, remember that girl in our fifth year, the Hufflepuff Ainsley Sabre? She kind of freaked out when she found out that he was a werewolf."

"The idiot told her parents and they transferred her to Salem School," snickered Sirius. Then his face straightened when he realized how had Remus felt about it. "But Prongs, that was just Ainsley Sabre. You know what Dorcas told us before – she's ready to support Remus and his condition no matter what. Now don't you tell me that isn't true love."

James chuckled, "He's definitely one lucky bloke. Not many girls would stay with him after finding out he's a werewolf."

"Well, she's really one heck of a girl too," agreed Sirius. "I've always suspected Moony felt keen towards good old Doe Meadowes."

James nodded in agreement. Truth be told, he had never really thought about Moony ever falling in love – but now that he came to think about it, if he ever _did_ fall in love, Dorcas seemed like the best option.

As if on cue, Remus suddenly appeared through the portrait hole. He looked panic-stricken, and all of his friends immediately turned to him.

"What's happened, Moony?" asked James. "You all right?"

"I – that Ally girl gave me this – " he said, panting lightly, tossing the _Evening Prophet _onto the sofa.

"What?" asked Sirius jokingly. "Ally? That fifth year who's always chasing you around? How _cute_."

Remus rolled his eyes at Sirius. For one second his eyes met Dorcas's, but he quickly looked away. James and Sirius's puns were quickly interrupted by a gasp from Lily.

"An entire family of muggles murdered!" she whispered. She looked up at her friends, who were quickly gathering around. "'On the morning of the twenty-seventh of January, six bodies were found in the living room of Number Seventeen, Layton Road, in Hounslow, England. The aforementioned bodies belonged to Mr. Nestor and Mrs. Louise Peterson, a married Muggle couple who lived in the house with their four children, Mallory, Jared, Anthony and Martha, aged thirteen, ten, seven and five. Muggle authorities haven't been able to determine the exact moment or cause of their deaths, but healers from St. Mungo's were allowed to study the corpses and resolved the Petersons had been murdered with the Killing Curse. The curse, although mortal, is sometimes mistaken for a Muggle 'heart attack' in isolated cases, but they are usually – ''

Lily couldn't finish reading the sentence. Her voice cracked, and tears started filling her eyes. Marlene, who was now sitting next to her, give her best friend a comforting hug.

"This is terrible," mumbled Dorcas, whose eyes were brimmed with tears too. "How – how can they?"

"I'm sure my bloody insane cousin is behind this," growled Sirius, his eyes narrowing as he thought of Bellatrix Lestrange, one of the little people Sirius had ever gotten to loathe in his life.

"But that's not even the worst part," mumbled Remus, as he flipped the page over to the front page of the _Evening Prophet_. The other six stared at it with horror visible on their faces.

_THE FALMOUTH MASSACRE – DEATH TOLL RISES TO FORTY-SIX_

_On the morning of the twenty-seventh of January, ten Death Eaters made their way to the wizarding town of Falmouth, the famous hometown of the Falmouth Falcons Quidditch team. Mayhem made its way into the village, where more than fifteen wizarding civilians – twelve adults and three children under the age of eleven – were brutally murdered by Dark wizards whose identities remain unknown. The Ministry has ordered an investigation, and the village is currently being searched for any hints or proofs of the authorship of the murder._

_"We were just sitting at the park, playing together," says eleven-year-old Lucas Pendergast, one of the four lucky children who were able to hid themselves after the Death Eaters arrived. "The sky turned all black and everyone started screaming. Hooded people started filing into the town, and we saw how one of them sent the Killing Curse towards a man standing in the street. My brothers Simon and Thomas and I were so lucky to make it out alive –" More on page 16._

Everyone was sitting stiffly after reading the article. James had taken a seat next to Lily, her cheeks shining with tears. Marlene had her eyes closed, breathing in and out quietly. Sirius sat on the couch, an intense expression on his face. Peter was sitting next to Dorcas, his mouth shaped like an 'o' and the girl trying to rub the tears out of her eyes. Remus, despite having read the news before everyone else, was now gripping to the sofa as he stood behind Lily and James. The seven of them looked as serious and aged as ever – no-one would have said they were only seventeen.

"What's going to happen to us when we're out there?" whispered Dorcas then, her eyes darting around her friends' faces. "We're – we're not ready for this. Not even Professor Drajman can prepare us for this."

"I agree," said Peter quietly. "As much as I appreciate Professor Drajman, he isn't teaching us enough. If we ever find ourselves face-to-face with one of these Death Eater blokes, we're dead."

"Well, Prongs and I know a tad bit more about defensive spells than most of the kids in our year," said Sirius.

"How humble," chuckled Marlene.

Sirius rolled his eyes. "What I mean is that we could show you people some stuff. Not as teachers of course – just like extra lessons."

"That'd be brilliant!" said Lily. "You two are brilliant at Transfiguration and DADA. I'm sure we would learn loads of stuff from you."

James looked slightly surprised by his best friend and girlfriend's words. "This is crazy," he said. "You mean you want us seven to just stand here at the Heads Dorm and throw spells at each other?"

"Not here," protested Sirius. "But – we could use some other place. The school grounds, for example. Or the Shrieking Shack."

James rolled his eyes. "You're mental, Padfoot."

"But it's not such a bad idea, really," said Marlene. "You two are the best duelists in our year, everyone knows that. And the rest of us could really use some extra lessons. After all, a certain someone doesn't even know how to conjure a corporeal Patronus yet." she glanced at Dorcas, who looked down at the ground.

"Don't worry, I can't either," said Peter, patting her back awkwardly. "They've tried to show me how to conjure one over the past four years, but I've never managed to do it right."

The group seemed to ponder the idea for a few moments. Everyone but James thought it was a good idea – after all, they wouldn't lose anything, and it was worth the try. After a few minutes of pouting from Lily, James finally gave his friends a resigned nod and said he would teach them some extra things.

"Now we just have to decide where are we going to practice," said Sirius. "We could go to the Shrieking Shack...but I doubt the place would stand us seven throwing spells at each other every week without collapsing. We can't do the practicing in the school grounds, because the teachers wouldn't allow us to – "

"We could always use the Forbidden Forest," said Peter hopefully.

Marlene snorted. "You're kidding, right? I'd rather get killed by a Death Eater than by one of those things in the forest."

And so they quickly started thinking of places where they would be able to practice. They weren't allowed to go to Hogsmeade any more, and they knew they wouldn't be allowed to use classrooms because they didn't have the right equipment and they might even end up blowing one of them up. They finally resolved to start thinking of new places and to discuss it over dinner the following day.

Ten minutes later, all of the Gryffindors but Lily and James had already left back to their common room. The two of them were sitting on the couch together, James's arm still enveloping Lily's shoulders. The girl was staring into the fire, a thoughtful expression on her face.

"Reading all those terrible things on the papers," she started quietly, "it really makes me wonder if we will even make it out of the war alive."

"Now, don't you ever say that," said James. "We're smart, and we know how to face those Death Eaters. You've heard Sirius – we'll teach you everything we know so no-one can beat us."

"But what if they win the war?" Lily asked, anxiety filling her voice. "What if they win and we – we _die_?"

James shook his head gently and pressed a kiss to the top of her head. "That, I do not know. But at least we will have tried. If they win, we won't spend the rest of our lives wondering what could have happened if we had actually done something. Besides, the dark is meant to fall sooner or later. Didn't Grindelwald rise, then fall again? Didn't he? Well, even if they win the war – even if they do, they'll end up collapsing sooner or later. And I promise you, no Death Eater will touch you while I'm still around."

Lily looked up at James and wondered why had it taken her so long to realize he was one of the bravest men she had ever met.

"Do you think we will still be alive in, say, five years' time, James?" she asked quietly then.

"Of course we will," said James. "We'll be living in London, being the best Aurors in the Ministry and perhaps with a child of our own..."

Lily laughed, "Someone's starting to get sentimental here."

James shrugged. "Wouldn't it be nice? You know – to buy a house together, to have a child of our own...it's all a huge adventure, just like life itself."

Lily nodded. When her eyes met James's again, she smiled.

"You're lovely, you know that right?" she asked.

"Who's getting sentimental now?" said James teasingly.

"Oh, shut up," laughed Lily, right before pressing a kiss to his lips.

...

**A/N**: Hey peeps! How are you doing? Here you have a brand new chapter from yours truly. Hope you liked it! :)

By the way – I started a new Harry Potter story. It's called **James Sirius Potter, Champion of Champions** and it's on my profile. As you might have guessed, it is a nextgen fic, and I still haven't got any reviews...so yeah, please check it out if you feel interested!

E x


	29. Peter's Discovery

**Chapter Twenty-Nine: ****Peter's Discovery**

...

Three days had gone by and still none of the Gryffindors had found any place in the castle suitable for their dueling practicing. They looked literally everywhere – Sirius had even considered using Moaning Myrtle's bathroom. But still, they still felt like none of the places they found were sufficiently good.

That day, however, was a really special day. It was Lily's birthday, and so not only James, but all the seventh year Gryffindors had decided to give her a surprise. The boy woke up half an hour earlier than he usually did, and quickly dressed himself into his school uniform. He grabbed Lily's present from the bottom of his trunk – he had acquired it over the holidays, and his mother had owled it to him on the previous week. It was nothing like his Christmas present – but still, he thought it was a sweet and decent gift.

As soon as he was done, he slipped out of his room, trying not to wake Lily up, and walked to their private living room. He smiled happily as he saw that the house elves had done as he had asked them to on the previous night – his and Lily's breakfasts were ready. Hot coffee, pancakes with chocolate syrup and whipped cream, chocolate muffins...Lily would love it. He knew he couldn't make up for her parents' loss, but he still wanted her to feel as happy as possible.

Only a little while later, he heard Lily's door creaking open. He grinned at the sight of her dark red hair approaching him, her green eyes gleaming happily. She wore her school uniform just like any other day, but James couldn't help but think that she looked like an angel right then.

"G'mornin'," she said, stretching out her arms. She then noticed the breakfast tray on the table and smiled. "What's that?"

"Oh, I don't know," laughed James, who had stood up to greet her with a soft kiss on the lips. "Happy eighteenth birthday, beautiful."

Lily beamed, and immediately hugged James back. Then, both of them took a seat on the couch, and James handed her the squared, wrapped up gift. Lily tore the gift paper quickly and found a thick book in her hands, with the words 'Photo Album' engraved on the cover. She quickly flipped it over, revealing photos Remus had taken with his muggle camera, school pictures from their Hogwarts years, and some photos Dorcas had taken during the previous summer, when the four girlfriends had met at the McKinnon for two weeks. There were photos of Lily and James together, Sirius and Marlene goofing around, Remus and Lily pulling funny faces at the camera, Dorcas laughing at the camera...it was simply perfect.

James realized Lily had tears in her eyes when she stared down at a photo of her and Mary, taken by Dorcas only a few weeks before Mary was killed. James caressed her cheek softly and smiled kindly.

"It's all right," he whispered.

"This – this is just beautiful, James," she said, closing the book. She then looked up at him, tears streaming down her face. However, she smiled as brightly as ever. "I love you so much."

James pulled her into an embrace, kissing the top of her head. Lily pulled away seconds later, brushing the tears away with the back of her hand. She then smiled and kissed James's lips gently.

"I don't know what I'd do without you," she whispered.

"Oh, I'm sure you'd do fine," said James.

Lily shook her head. "I can't even dream of not having you. You were the only one who kept me sane these months, James. I owe you so much."

"I owe you more than you can think of, too," he said as he tucked a lock of her red hair behind her ear absentmindedly.

Lily smiled, and then looked at the breakfast waiting in front of them. "Well look at that! We can't just let this get cold. Let's get some breakfast."

James nodded in agreement, and so both of them set their breakfast in no time. They chatted as usually, happiness back between them. It was just like that in their relationship – there were times of absolute sadness in which James had to be there for Lily and vice versa and a second later they would just laugh together as if nothing had happened. They were living the worst times in the wizarding world since Grindelwald fell, but somehow they could both still find a good reason to smile.

After breakfast, both of them walked downstairs to the Entrance Hall. Since they had already had breakfast, they would just go to class straightaway, and meet their friends there. They walked together, still smiling rather goofily. When they reached the second floor, James looked at his watch only to find out that they still had a good twenty minutes before their first lesson started.

"D'you reckon we could make a better use of that time, Lils," he asked, his eyebrows rising suggestively.

Lily shrugged. "Maybe. Yeah."

James leaned forward and kissed her lips hungrily, and Lily did the same. His hands traveled up and down her back gently, whilst her fingers slowly tangled into his messy black hair. After a couple of minutes, Lily pulled away.

"James?" she asked.

"Mhm?" he said distractedly, still enjoying the taste of her lips in his.

"Your cloak is inside out."

James looked down at his cloak and, indeed, it was inside-out. He actually laughed at it for not having realized it before, but then he just shrugged and leaned forward to kiss Lily again.

"Well, no one will really care for the time being," he whispered right before their lips met yet again.

...

After their morning lessons, the seventh year Gryffindors walked downstairs to the Great Hall. The boys had already given Lily their presents – Sirius's was an assortment of candies from Honeydukes, Remus's a particularly thick muggle novel that Lily had been dying to read lately, and Peter's was a box containing a cologne, hand cream and chocolate-scented shampoo. Tom gave her another book – this time a wizarding one about the Wizarding Crusades – while Sophie's gift was a beautiful white sundress.

But Marlene and Dorcas's were the best ones, after James's of course. Both girls had saved up some money together and bought her a muggle camera, which she could use to fill the empty pages in the photo album. Lily could barely believe her luck, not knowing what she would have done without her two best friends.

Lunch went by as usually. Everyone chatted as they helped themselves to some food. Marlene, however, seemed to find pleasure in eating meat rawer than usually, which intrigued everyone else.

"I – uh – sorry about that," said Remus, rubbing the back of his head awkwardly.

Marlene frowned. "Sorry about what?"

Sirius examined her almost raw beef filet and rolled his eyes. "He thinks you suddenly love raw meat because he – well – scratched you the other night."

Marlene immediately laughed. "That? Oh, it was nothing." said that, she stuffed almost all of the meat into her mouth. Then, when she had gulped all of it down (at a surprising speed, Lily thought), she looked up and saw a fly, laughing almost frantically as she tried to catch it.

"Yeah, because that's so totally sane," whispered Dorcas under her breath, making Remus snort.

The rest of the meal went by uneventfully, with everyone chatting about this and that. Only when they were eating their desserts did they notice Peter trotting towards them, a huge smile on his face.

"Hey, guys," he said, taking a seat next to Sirius. "You wouldn't believe what I found today?"

"Oh please tell us, Wormy," said Sirius with a bored expression.

"Well, there's this place in the seventh floor," started Peter, ignoring the look on Sirius's face. "Where I usually go after Divination to...you know..._tinkle_," his cheeks turned a bright red as the three girls giggled. "Well, the thing is, the door only appears when I'm practically peeing on my pants. I thought it was some sort of magical toilet or whatever – but today I was looking for somewhere to hide my 'T'-graded Astronomy essay, and the very same door appeared there, but this time it was a colossal place where I could easily hide my essay on Jupiter's moons."

"And the whole point of this lovely speech is...?" asked Sirius impatiently.

"Well, I went to the library after that happened," continued Peter, again ignoring Sirius. "And looked it up in _Hogwarts, A History_, only to find out that there's this room in the seventh floor commonly referred to as the Room of Requirement, which transforms into one's needs if you ask her to do so."

"That's fascinating," said Lily. "I've never heard of that place before."

Peter shrugged. "I thought we could start our DADA practices there."

James immediately grinned. Good old Peter could be useful at times, too.

"That's brilliant, Wormtail!" he exclaimed. He then checked his schedule. "Most of us have a free period next, right? We could go there and explore the room a little!"

They all checked their timetables. Indeed, everyone but Dorcas and Remus, who had Muggle Studies, had a free period next. They all said quick goodbyes and so James, Lily, Sirius and Marlene rushed behind Peter to the Room of Requirement. Peter came to a halt in the middle of the hallway, and looked back at James.

"I think you should do it, Prongs," he said quietly. "You just have to think that you really need a training room with all of your might. That's what I did before anyway."

James nodded. He closed his eyes, repeating the same thought in his head over and over again. _We need somewhere to practice spells and transfigurations safely_. _We need somewhere to practice spells and transfigurations safely_.

When he opened his eyes again, he found a big oak door in front of him where seconds before there had only been a brown wall. He looked back at his friends in amazement, and then took a step to the front, touching the door with his fingers. He gently pushed it open, revealing a huge room, its walls crammed with mirrors and dummies and haystacks on the floor.

The five of them gently made their way into the room, feeling completely amazed. Peter smiled self-sufficiently, while Sirius patted his back approvingly. Marlene and Lily looked around the room, feeling completely amazed. James pulled out his wand and pointed at one of the dummies. "Reducto!" Within seconds, all that was left where the dummy had once stood was a small mound of ashes.

"Well, this definitely looks nice," said James. "I reckon we could use it someday, couldn't we?"

"You're kidding, right?" said Lily. "This place is absolutely _perfect_."

"We might as well get started with the lessons, right?" asked Sirius eagerly. "Whaddya say, Prongs?"

"You're right," agreed James. "Well – wands out the four of you, I suppose."

The other four obeyed his command and took out their wands. James tried to think how would a teacher behave in a situation like this, taking into account that his pupils were his best friend, his girlfriend, his girlfriend's best friend (and presumably his best friend's soon-to-be girlfriend) and one of his closest friends.

"Er – well, I'm sure all of you are familiar with Disarming charms," said James. "The thing is, we've never really seen stronger ones in class. There are a few which might come in handy in a battle...for example, this one." He turned towards a dummy and pointed his wand at it. "_Cofringo_!" The dummy was immediately pushed backwards by a jet of red light until it crashed against one of the walls, breaking down into small pieces. The others stared at it in awe, and tried it themselves a little later. Sirius already knew the spell, of course, but the others were completely amazed.

After that they tried a few other spells. They started working on the counter-spell for Accio, _Depulso_. James taught them how to successfully perform a Colloportus spell, whilst Lily taught everyone her famous healing tricks.

Just a few minutes before they had to head to their next class, James decided to play a little prank on Sirius and engorged his head, making the whole room burst out in laughter.

"Now you finally have a head decently matching your ego, Padfoot dear," laughed James.

"I swear I'm gonna kill you one day, Prongs," mumbled Sirius as he tried to keep his head from falling backwards. When Lily and Marlene started giggling together, he couldn't help but glare at them.

"Well, Potions time," said James, picking up his bag and waving at Sirius. "See ya later!"

"You're kidding, right?" asked Sirius angrily. "You surely won't leave me here...will you?"

"Oh, of course we will," laughed Lily as she grabbed James's hand. "The spell will wear off in a couple of hours anyway, so only your pride will end up hurt. Have a nice time!"

And so both James and Lily walked out of the room together, quickly followed by Peter after he briefly apologized to Sirius and mumbled something about having to go talk to Professor Grubby-Plank. Sirius and Marlene were left alone in the room, with the girl still chuckling silently.

"Well, are you going to help me or what?" asked Sirius.

Marlene rolled her eyes. "Please. Show some manners first."

Sirius snorted. "_Please_?"

The girl smiled. "That's much better." Said that, she pulled out her wand and quickly muttered the counter-spell, which made Sirius's head go back to its normal size. She then helped him up and smiled.

"You look much better with a normal-sized head, you know," she commented.

"Uh...thanks?" said Sirius. Marlene giggled, which wasn't very usual in her. The boy rubbed the back of his head awkwardly. "Well – you've Potions now, right?"

Marlene shrugged. "I can skip today's lesson. Slughorn doesn't care about me all that much anyway."

Sirius snorted. Marlene was a really good student, but she _was_a bit clumsy when it came to Potions and other practical subjects – in fact, he had always wondered how did she make it to NEWT level. Only then did he realize that both of them were standing extremely close to each other, smelling her soft vanilla scent. He couldn't help but think that her smell was quite fine.

"Well – " started Marlene. "I think I owe you something. I need to apologize for kind of avoiding you ever since we got back from the holidays. It's just – well, you know. My dad doesn't like your family."

"Who would?" chuckled Sirius sadly. "I've grown used to it over the past few years. It still bugs me when people think that I'm like them, because – well, I'm not."

Marlene squeezed his hand gently. "I know you aren't. But you know, he's heard Lily speaking ill of you and James ever since we were eleven, and he thinks you're just, _another Black_. He just can't see that you're nice and sweet, although a bit conceited," Sirius pulled an offended look, which made Marlene smile. "But what I really meant to say is that...I don't give a damn about what my dad says. I – I want to be with you. Because – well – I like you. Sort of."

Sirius grinned at her words. At first, he hadn't known why did he always feel funny whenever Marlene was around, but he now knew the answer. He had fallen for Marlene McKinnon. In fact, he was _head over heels_ about Marlene McKinnon.

"Well," he said, tucking a lock of her brown hair behind her ear. A smile played on his lips, and Marlene couldn't help but notice this. "I guess we could somehow sort that out, right?"

Before Marlene could even mutter her answer, Sirius pressed his lips gently against Marlene's. And for once, the girl didn't pull away, and just enjoyed the feeling of freedom that rushed through her body.

...

**A/N**: Yup. I don't have much to say for now, so I hope you enjoyed this chapter. :) By the way, my story **James Sirius Potter, Champion of Champions** has been updated! Just letting you know.

Review?

E x


	30. James's New Friend

**Chapter Thirty: James's New Friend**

...

February was usually the coldest month. Thick layers of snow rested over Hogwarts's grounds, and the students never really felt like going outside. The following Quidditch match was approaching, and most of the school was ecstatic about it. It was Gryffindor versus Ravenclaw, which meant that the whole Slytherin house would be rooting for the Eagles and Hufflepuffs were torn between both.

The seventh years had been getting a huge amount of homework lately. James and Lily barely managed to see each other after the day's lessons until late in the afternoon, but they enjoyed their time together as much as possible. The two of them were walking to the Great Hall after Defence Against the Dark Arts with the rest of their friends. James had his fingers intertwined with Lily's, whispering something into her ear. Lily giggled, and he then kissed her cheek gently.

Marlene and Sirius were walking together too. They had agreed not to tell their friends about their newfound relationship, but the smiles plastered on their faces twenty-four hours a day gave them off easily. Peter was playing with his new Remembrall absentmindedly, whilst Remus and Dorcas discussed something about their Muggle Studies lesson. It was just like that – calm, quiet, happy.

The group of six arrived to the Great Hall, where they took their usual seats together. Everyone helped themselves to their favourite food, and the Gryffindors were simply enjoying a nice conversation when James heard someone sobbing behind him.

"Oh, Odessa!" sobbed a fifth year Slytherin behind them, hugging her best friend. "McGonagall is going to kill me."

"I'm sure you'll get this sorted out, RiRi," said her friend Odessa, who was a Slytherin too. "You can always ask for some tutoring."

"Anything the matter?" asked Sirius. The sobbing girl looked up at Sirius, who gave her a smile. "I'd love to help a lady in the need," when he was about to flash one of his smiles towards the girl, he felt how someone kicked his shin, and looked up to find Marlene glaring at him.

"What my friend means," said James. "Is that you can ask us if you need any help with Transfigurations."

The girl's expression lighted up in a quite exaggerated way, as Lily couldn't help but notice. "Oh, that would be so nice of you!" she exclaimed. "I'm River, River Jenkins. But of course, I already know who you are," she winked an eye at James.

Lily rolled her eyes. She was used to all those girls stalking James at all times, and she believed her boyfriend would never tutor River Jenkins. However, she raised an eyebrow when Remus almost offered himself to tutor the Slytherin, as did Sirius. James, however, blinked once or twice before nodding.

"Yeah, sure," he said. "I'll see you at the library around five o'clock, all right?" River nodded happily and then giggled – a bit too girlishly for Lily's taste – and walked away with her friend Odessa, whispering quickly. Lily noticed that most of the boys sitting at the Gryffindor and Hufflepuff tables craned their necks to observe River's rather fit body. Lily's eyes narrowed. She didn't like that River girl.

"Do you really think you should tutor that girl?" she asked then.

"What?" answered James distractedly. "Oh yeah, sure. It's just tutoring, Lils."

Said that, James, Sirius, Peter and Remus said that they needed to go talk to McGonagall about their most recent punishment and scurried out of the Great Hall before Lily could say anything else. Dorcas and Marlene glared suspiciously at the four boys before looking at Lily.

"If I were you, I wouldn't trust that River girl a bit," said Marlene, her eyes narrowed. "There's definitely something odd going on with her."

Lily stared down at her plate and sighed. She knew James would never cheat on her, but she couldn't help but worry. What would happen if he, indeed, fall for River Jenkins's mysterious appeal?

...

Later that day, the three Gryffindor girls were sitting with Sirius, Remus and Peter in the common room. Lily was waiting for James to arrive, and it worried her to see that it was already half past seven, when they had agreed that they'd meet at the Gryffindor common room at seven. She tried to keep herself busy with her Potions essay, but she still drifted away to wondering what might have happened to James.

"D'you think he's all right?" she asked to Sirius, dropping onto the couch next to him.

"Yeah, I'm sure he is," said the boy, who was playing a game of Gobstones with Peter. "Your turn, Wormtail."

"But he's half an hour late," she insisted. "James is _never_ late."

Sirius shrugged, "I'm sure he'll show up sooner or later."

"He'd better," grumbled Lily. She didn't like that River girl at all, and she wasn't too keen on the fact that James might be tutoring her for the next few days.

She sat on the couch silently, looking at everyone around her. There was a group of second years whispering hurriedly about how a Slytherin in their year had been given a permanent ban on Quidditch after he shoved one of his housemates off his broom, breaking several of the third year's bones in the process. There was a group of fourth years giggling about one of their classmates, who was sitting across the room with his friends. But Lily felt surprised when she saw two fifth years entering the common room while they giggled and gossiped. She was barely able to catch a few words.

"Potter – library – " said one of them.

"But he has a girlfriend!" said the other.

Lily immediately bolted up from her seat and hurried over to the two girls. One of them, the blonde, noticed her and nudged her friend.

"Excuse me, what were you talking about?" said Lily, trying to sound calm and collected.

"Oh look," said the brunette, giggling. "There's his girlfriend."

The blonde patted her back sadly. "I'm so sorry, darling. I'm sure you must be feeling dreadful at the moment."

"What?" asked Lily. "What's happened?"

The two girls shared a glance and finally the brunette spoke up. "Well, we were at the library, studying for a Transfigurations test, when we saw this slut from our year, River Jenkins. She was sitting with Potter – yeah, _your_ Potter – and just a little while later she just snogged him right there. And he didn't do anything to push her away! I mean, how stupid is that?"

Lily's eyes widened at the girl's words. Her James, snogging a fifth year slut in the library? How was that even possible?

"Are you sure it was him?" she croaked, feeling how tears started welling up in her eyes.

"We are, sweetie," said the blonde knowingly. "We're so sorry."

Lily gulped. How could he? How could he just kiss another girl and think he would get away with it? She had trusted him like she had trusted no-one in her whole life, only to find out that he went kissing other girls whenever he felt like it. Was this the first time, or had he been unfaithful to her before?

"Thanks," she mumbled.

She turned around and shuffled out of the Gryffindor common room. There were people around, and she felt determined not to cry in front of her whole House. She quickly dashed through the corridors until she arrived to the Heads dorm, where she grunted the password. Then, she simply dropped onto her bed and started crying, feeling how anger and despair filled her body. James hadn't changed at all, he was just back to being a prat. He didn't even care about her. She doubted that all those 'I love you's were even real. Hot tears raced down her cheeks in a useless attempt to calm down, but ended up crying even harder.

A few minutes later, she heard her door cracking open. She glanced back at it, and saw how a bubbly-looking boy with a goofy smile on his face entered her bedroom.

"What are you doing here, Potter?" she asked angrily to James Potter.

James seemed to automatically snap out of his bubbly state when he realized that his girlfriend was crying. A deep frown settled upon his face, and he rushed over to her side.

"What's wrong, love?" he asked worriedly.

When he attempted to brush her arm comfortingly, Lily slapped him across the face.

"You _pig_!" she cried. "How can you _dare_ calling me love when you've just snogged one of those fifth year sluts?"

James's eyes widened. "What? I have never snogged a fifth year slut."

Lily felt how something like madness creeped up her chest. She clenched her teeth and gave him another slap across the face.

"You're just a liar," she whispered, feeling how hot tears trickled down her cheeks yet again. "I thought – I thought you'd changed. But clearly you haven't, and it's taken me nearly five months to realize."

"But Lils – " James started again.

"_JUST GO AWAY!_" yelled Lily.

"I can't leave," said James defying Lily's death glare. "Until I can fully understand what's wrong."

"_What's wrong?_" asked Lily. "Just – just go, all right? Or _I'll_ leave?"

"But Lils, I've never even thought of kissing anyone else but you!"

"Oh yeah?" asked Lily, loathe filling her voice. "Well, those two girls in the common room might have just totally randomly made up that you were snogging with River Jenkins, right? Because people always do that."

James frowned. "I never kissed River. I just explained her some of the theory in the Transfigurations text book and then she left to the Slytherin common room."

Lily couldn't believe that he was lying to her. Not only had he ruined their whole relationship, but he was also trying to use lame excuses?

She pushed him aside and ran out of the Heads dorm, back to the Gryffindor common room. She jolted up the stairs and entered the seventh year girls dormitory, where she locked the door only to find out that Marlene, Sophie and Dorcas were already there.

"Lils!" exclaimed Dorcas, running up to hug her. "What's happened? You just disappeared...Remus said you were crying – "

Lily just hugged her friend and told them between sobs what had happened. After that, Sophie immediately rushed out of the dormitory, whilst Marlene, Dorcas and Lily sat on one of the four-posted beds. The first one had a thoughtful expression, while Dorcas tried to comfort Lily.

"It's all right, Lils," she said. "James's been dreadful and he will have to apologize sooner or later."

"I still can't believe James would do that to you," murmured Marlene thoughtfully. "Are you sure those girls didn't lie to you?"

"Why would they?" asked Lily miserably. "I don't know them."

Sophie arrived a couple of minutes later, this time bringing Emmeline Vance and Miri Paulsen with her. The latter gasped at the sight of Lily's teary eyes, and ran to hug her.

"Lily, don't worry!" exclaimed Miri. "I've talked to Kate and Monica. They've told me everything that's happened – I'm pretty sure that James didn't want to cheat on you."

"Oh, yeah?" snorted Lily. "I'd definitely like to know what's happened."

"What's happened," said Miri patiently. "Is that River is half-Veela. She's always been like that, you know. Even in our first year, some boys from higher years took a liking to her because of her Veela charms. She snogs and dates whoever she wishes, and the boys don't even remember what's happened because she can erase their memory easily too."

"Listen, Lily," said Emmeline Vance. "I had trouble with that River Jenkins a few months ago. She started hitting on Kevin, and a few days later Hestia found them snogging. At first I thought that Kevin had cheated on me, but then I found out about her Veela blood. You can't blame James for what's happened today."

Lily stared down at her shoes. Now she knew that she couldn't blame James for what had happened that afternoon, but she still felt like she couldn't trust him. How come he had agreed to tutor River in the first place? How could she knew he wouldn't want to kiss her again? What if he felt like he'd rather have River than Lily?

"I need to get some sleep," said Lily. "Can I stay here tonight?"

Marlene caressed her hair and nodded. "Sure sweetie. You can use one of my PJs if you'd like."

Lily smiled, and went to the bathroom to get changed. When she came back, she crawled into her old bed and pressed her eyes close. She wanted to forget about that terrible day, to go back to her happy memories which didn't include James or her parents – which, to her surprise, were rather few. She heard her friends whispering, but for once she didn't care. She just wanted to leave, to go away from everyone else in the castle.

In the end, after a few minutes, Lily ended up falling asleep.

...

"Do you think this is all right, Doe?"

"Pssht, of course it is."

"But we could get caught – "

"Do you want Lily and James back together or not?"

"Of course I do!"

"Well shut up and go get Miri. I'll go find the boys."

Dorcas walked over to the seventh year boys' dorm, where she could still hear some voices whispering inside, despite the fact that it was already one in the morning. She knocked the door twice, and heard how the boys scrambled into their beds quickly and switched off the light. She rolled her eyes and pushed the door open, only to find the four Marauders and Tom under their covers.

"Jeez boys," she said. "I didn't know you could be so childish."

The first one to shuffle out of bed was Sirius, who hurried up to her and switched on the light. "What's happened to Lily? Why is she so mad at Prongs?"

"It's that River Jenkins girl," said Dorcas. "She's half-Veela. Apparently she's hitting on James and she won't stop until Lily and him break up."

Sirius and Remus shared worried glances, while James stared at Dorcas unbelievingly.

"But – I can't recall kissing River – " he mumbled. He then punched his forehead angrily. "Of course, she must have erased my memory! But how – ?"

"Look James, I've no idea of what happened in the library," said Dorcas. "But you really need to talk to Lily. You have to show her that you don't feel attracted towards River at all. You have to find some way of just getting the girl out of your head. Lily needs you."

James gulped. "I know she does. And I need her too. It's just – Merlin, I feel so foolish. How could I let this happen? How could I even dream of kissing a girl who isn't Lily?"

Sirius patted his back. "Now don't be so hard on yourself, Prongs. It's all that girl's fault."

"But still," said James. "I should have known she was up to something. Merlin, I need to talk to Lily right now." James looked up to find that Marlene and Miri Paulsen had walked into their bedroom, the latter rubbing her eyes and yawning.

"I wouldn't advise you to go right now, Potter," said Marlene. "She's fast asleep and needs to rest right now. You'll talk to her tomorrow. Now, I brought Miri so as to get you people filled in with all the details about River Jenkins." Miri briefly explained all about River and her Veela blood, and then Marlene added, "We need a plan. Something effective to kick Jenkins's slutty arse and get her off James as soon as possible."

"Now, now, Marls," said Sirius, wrapping an arm around Marlene's waist. "Aren't you getting a bit aggressive?"

"Please," snorted Marlene. "Lily's my best friend and I know that James loves her as much as he did before meeting James," the girl briefly glared at James, who nodded firmly. "I'm pretty positive that Lily would do the same if that slut was chasing _you_ around the school."

"You mean Padfoot?" asked Peter unbelievingly. "You two are _dating_?"

Both Marlene and Sirius shrugged nervously, until Marlene said, "That's beyond the point, Peter. We have to think of something that would get us rid of River Jenkins forever." Sirius opened his mouth, but Marlene quickly added, "Kidnapping her and asking Slughorn for ransom will _not_ be necessary, thank you very much."

Sirius rolled his eyes. "I wasn't going to say that. What if we just get James to tell River to go away?"

"That's a difficult thing to do," objected Remus. "As much as I know that James loves Lily, I doubt he would resist River's Veela charms. None of us would, anyways."

"Boys," grunted Dorcas.

"Well, I'll think about it," said James. "I'm the one who's caused all this mess. It's only fair that I get out of it my own way, isn't it?"

"But we can always help you, Prongs," said Peter. "You don't have to do it alone."

James shook his head. Then he looked at the three girls. "You'd better go get some sleep now. It's late."

Marlene frowned worriedly. "Are you sure you'll be able to fix this, James?"

The boy nodded firmly. The truth was that, deep inside, he ignored whether or not would he be able to show Lily that he still loved her like the first day, and that no Veela girl would change that. But still – would Lily accept it? Would she still want to be with him when she knew he had fallen so easily for an easy girl? He crawled into bed with a thoughtful expression on his face, after the girls left the dorm. He could hear Tom's snores, Peter's feet brushing against the covers, Remus sighing in his sleep and Sirius shifting in an attempt to fall asleep. He wondered if he would ever be able to make up for the mess he had caused within a few hours.

But in that moment, Lily's forgiving words were the only thing that James sought.

...

**A/N**: Woo, there's some drama coming. Anyway, sorry for the rather late update – I've been as busy as hell over the past couple of days and a massive writer's block hasn't helped either. It seems like my muses want to make me mad again...anyways, I hope to publish at least one more chapter before 2013. Yay!

Review?

E x

P.S.: Merry Christmas to y'all!


	31. O Doth She!

**Chapter Thirty-One: O Doth She!**

...

"Lils, wake up."

There was no answer.

"Lils, it's breakfast time."

Still no answer.

"_Lils!_" Marlene McKinnon yelled sharply. "You have to get some food, for goodness sake!"

"I – I don't want to see him," she mumbled, burying her face under her pillow.

Marlene and Dorcas shared a concerned glance as Sophie sat on the edge of Lily's bed and patted her back softly. "Come on Lils, we've class in half an hour – I'm sure McGonagall will be really mad at you if you skip Transfigurations."

Lily knitted her brow, but finally slipped out of her bed. She glared at the three girls standing in front of her, who were completely dressed and ready to leave. She fumbled for her clothes with a tired expression, her eyes still red and bloodshot, and made her way to the bathroom. Her three friends, sharing worried glances, followed her.

"Are you three showering with me?" she asked, perhaps a bit too harshly.

Marlene eyed the other two and silently commanded them to stop.

"We'll wait here," sighed Marlene finally.

Lily, doing a slight huff, turned around and entered the bathroom, leaving her three friends by themselves. She reappeared around twenty minutes later, her hair clean and a bit carelessly combed and her uniform looking only slightly less disheveled than before she had walked into the bathroom.

"Let's get moving," she grumbled quietly, walking past her three friends.

Marlene and Dorcas exchanged glances, but did not dare say anything in front of Lily. With a slight tut, the three girls followed Lily downstairs.

* * *

Marlene knew that there would be trouble right after she spotted River Jenkins walking down the corridor with an ever so fake smile on her face. She beamed at the three of them as she walked into the Great Hall. Lily, Marlene observed, balled her fists so tightly her knuckles went white.

"I really hope we can make it out of this alive," she whispered to Dorcas, who could only nod faintly.

Lily, who had not heard anything, walked into the Great Hall with a frown on her face. Anger had replaced the previous night's sadness, but she couldn't help but wince at the sight of a regretful-looking James sitting with his friends at the Gryffindor table. She quickly backed away, only to be stopped by her two friends.

"Lils, don't be childish," said Dorcas. "You need to get something for breakfast."

"I don't want to sit with him," she grumbled.

"He's a Gryffindor too!" exclaimed Marlene. "For Merlin's sake, what did you expect?"

"_Stop it!_" exclaimed Lily as her friends started pushing her towards the table. "It seems like you two don't even _care_ about the fact that the bloody James Potter cheated on me only yesterday." Nobody could see it, but there were now tears flooding Lily's eyes.

Marlene and Dorcas exchanged yet another glance. The latter gulped and shook her head lightly. "Lils, it's not like we don't support you. Because we do. The thing is – you and James have been through so much together, you should trust him a little bit more – "

"For Merlin's sake, Dorcas!" exclaimed Lily angrily, glaring at her friend. "_He bloody snogged that River Jenkins in front of a group of fifth years! _Do you honestly expect me to be _happy_ about it?"

Dorcas remained silent for a few moments, staring regretfully at her dear friend. "No, I suppose not," she admitted quietly.

Lily nodded, as if thanking her friend for finally coming to terms with her.

"Lils, Remus and Sirius have nothing to do with what has happened," said Marlene then, half-pleadingly. "Let's just sit down at the table and enjoy breakfast, okay? Like James isn't even there?"

Lily let out a short sigh. Then, briefly glancing at the table, she meekly walked towards the group of seventh years and sat between Remus and Sirius. The two boys glanced at each other worriedly, but did not dare say anything. Lily, however, suddenly seemed to be acting perfectly natural – as natural as she could act without even glancing at James, that is.

"So how's life, Rem?" she asked casually, as she helped herself to a generous portion of apple pie. When she looked up at her best friend, she even managed to offer him a kind smile.

Though surprised at first, Remus simply shrugged and glanced around before whispering, "Watching out for my stalker again."

Lily let out a slight snort. "Is that Ally girl following you around again?" When she saw how Remus nodded faintly, she laughed. "Poor girl, let her be! She seems to adore you."

"It's creepy," he whispered.

"I think it's cute," chuckled Sirius.

Remus shot him a disbelieving look and, when Sirius replied with a smirk, the werewolf turned back to his cereal bowl and started eating with a disgusted look on his face. Everyone around them giggled or chuckled – even Lily. James, however, remained silent, gazing intently at the redhead. If Lily noticed any of this, she gave no sign whatsoever.

Only a little while later, three girls approached the Gryffindor table. One of them had shockingly blond hair and glazing blue eyes. The two walking behind her seemed to be her little minions, with identical dyed blond hair and mischievous brown eyes. Of course, River Jenkins hadn't had enough the previous night. Just as she walked past Remus, the boy stopped talking to Dorcas and dropped his fork just to look up at the attractive girl walking past him. Sirius did the same, and did not seem to react when Marlene nudged him hard on the ribs. A smile set across Peter's face as he saintly looked up at River, his chubby cheeks blushing madly at the mere sight of the girl.

James, however, seemed to be the only one ignoring the half-Veela's presence. He stared into his cereal bowl, his eyes narrowing and his fists balling. A moment later, when he felt a tap on his shoulder, he merely grunted. This shocked most of the girls sitting at the table, particularly those who knew of River's Veela charms.

"Jaaaames," said the girl in a sing-song voice, smiling mischievously as she ran her fingers up and down the boy's back. "What's up with you, naughty boy?"

James's jaw clenched. "Leave me alone."

Now even Lily had decided to pay attention to their conversation. River's fingers had frozen halfway down James's spine, and the girl was now staring at him intently. "What're you saying, James?"

The boy narrowed his eyes, turning around to look at River. He did not flinch when their eyes met. "I'm sorry, you must've misheard me," he said, his voice firmer now. "_Leave – me – alone_."

River frowned. "Are you feeling well, James?"

"Oh, I'm feeling perfectly," he snorted. "I just want you to leave."

"James, don't be ridiculous – "

But James, however, _did_ feel like being ridiculous that morning. With a pompous clatter of his cereal bowl, he stood up on his chair and glanced around at the whole Great Hall. There wasn't a soul that wasn't watching the whole scene, not even the professors. With their mouthes agape, younger children anxiously awaited for the Head Boy to answer.

"It's funny, you know, how people tend to _manipulate_ others," he started, looking firmly at River. "We all do that sooner or later. Even _I _have done it, and I would be a liar if I said I've never forced anyone into writing my homework," he glanced at Remus, who chuckled lightly. "Or made a group of people work extra-hard for the Quidditch Cup." the whole Gryffindor team was now smiling and nodding. James, looking slightly satisfied with his speech, looked again at River, who was now glancing down nervously. "But I swear I've never seen extortion and manipulation reaching such a worrying point. You, River Jenkins, seem to be used to all this – but I most certainly am not._  
_

"You know, this year's been very odd," he continued. "I've discovered new things, I've made new friends," he tilted his head towards Dorcas and Marlene, who seemed to nod approvingly. " – But most importantly, something that happened a few months ago changed my life entirely. Or rather, _someone_ changed it." His brown eyes briefly met Lily's, green orbs, which were now shining with what looked like tears. He gave her a small smile before looking at River Jenkins again, his face as determined as ever. "So I don't really know what have you been doing up until now, River Jenkins – but I can assure you I love Lily and would never, _ever_ even dream of talking to a girl like you."

Everyone in the Great Hall remained absolutely silent for a few moments. The younger children exchanged shocked glances, the older ones nodded approvingly. Most of the school knew of River Jenkins's antics, and had been somehow affected by them – and those who hadn't been, still knew of her hideous reputation.

It was Miri Bates who silently started clapping. Then, a couple of third years from Ravenclaw followed – and soon enough the whole Hall had burst into loud claps and cheers. River Jenkins, glaring at James and then at her two minions, seemed to be most embarrassed. With her classmates's loud jokes and their accusing fingers pointed at her, the fifth year Slytherin made her way out of the Great Hall, yelling words filled with venom against James Potter, Lily Evans, the Gryffindors and the entire bloody magical education system. Back in the Great Hall, James was now standing on his chair proudly, bowing at everyone's claps. He then turned around, hoping to find Lily beaming at him and willing to get things back nicely.

However, he only found that she was not there.

He immediately hopped back to the ground and asked Remus, "Where is she?"

Remus shrugged. James couldn't help but notice the concern in his werewolf friend's eyes.

"She didn't say anything," he said. "She just – left."

James covered his face with his hands, shaking his head miserably. "Oh, _shoot_."

And with that, he left the still-cheering Great Hall.

* * *

James arrived to the lake only a couple of minutes later, his breath shaky and his feet aching from the distance he had run. Something told him that Lily _had_ to be somewhere near the lake – she always went there when she felt emotional, either in a good or a bad way. She had been there often after her parents and Mary died, and they had been there together plenty of times as well, during those days when Lily's smile was the brightest in the castle and James felt like he was the luckiest boy in the world.

Now, however, he felt as miserable as ever.

He walked around cluelessly, hoping to notice something that would give away her hiding place. What was he going to do when he found her, he did not know. Kiss her? Highly unlikely. Hug her? Not if she didn't want him to. Comfort her? Probably, but how? His head was just sheer mess at that moment.

He finally heard a muffled sob coming from a tree a few yards away from the lake. He immediately steered towards the source of the noise, only to find Lily sitting under a tree, her red hair covering her face entirely as tears flooded down her cheeks.

"Oh, _fuck_," whispered James as he knelt beside her. When the girl looked up at him, her eyes red and bloodshot from crying, he smiled sadly. "Come on, Lils, it's all right – "

"What has just happened, James?" she asked, hiccuping lightly due to all the crying.

James let out a sigh and ducked his head quietly. "River is a half-Veela. We found out yesterday after you – you know . . . " he looked up at her ever so meekly, fearing that she would just walk away like she had done the last time they had talked. "I can't remember anything that happened the other day. I truly can't. And if I ever did kiss River Jenkins, I can swear it wasn't something I wanted to do. She _manipulated_ me, Lily – that's what she always does."

Lily looked at him quietly for a moment. "It takes a lot of willpower to break free from a Veela's charms," she said quietly. "Great wizards have succumbed to their charms and fallen into their nets."

"It was a real struggle," said James, nodding quickly. "I don't even know how I did it. The thing is, I somehow managed to break free from the charm – or at least partially, which was enough to make me stand on my chair and deliver such a speech." He heard how Lily chuckled quietly, which he decided to take as something extremely positive. He carefully placed a hand on her cheek, staring into her eyes. "Look, Lily – I love you. And no Veela is going to trick me into feeling that for anyone else, no matter how hard they try. I feel simply terrible for what happened last night, and I promise you it will never, _ever_ happen again, because I love you more than anything else. Understood?"

Lily stared at him for a few moments through glassy eyes, but then gently brushed her hand against his cheek. "Okay."

James grinned, cupping her face with both of his hands. "I will never leave you, okay? I want you to be happy."

She smiled gently. "I will be, James. Don't worry." And with that, she leaned forward and softly placed her lips on his. It was the sweetest taste James had ever felt, and he did not feel ready to let it go. Heck, he doubted he would _ever_ be ready to let it go._  
_

But the only thing that mattered to both of them at that moment was that everything was all right. The rest would be aside for the time being.

* * *

**Oh my god, it's been like six months since I last updated this story. I'm so so sorry! Year 11 has kept me as busy as hell and I haven't had much spare time, much less to write fanfiction. So yeah, I'm _terribly sorry_ for the delay – but the important thing is that the new chapter is finally here, and that I feel absolutely ready to start typing this story on at least a weekly basis again! **

**Anyway – hope you enjoyed the chapter. ****Please review! xxxxx**


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